Finding yourself at the end of the world
by Lizziekat15
Summary: I was trying to write a story similar to the old movie Body Heat with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt...but I can't write Daryl as a man so foolish as to be fooled by a woman, and I can't write him as a jerk...so the story is writing itself regardless of what I had planned...it's darker than my other stories...as always constructive criticism is appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

WARNING: This story will be rated M…it's quite a bit darker than my other stories….extramarital affairs, suicide…I started off thinking of Vivienne as a character similar to Kathleen Turner's character in Body Heat….and then the story took itself over.

Vivienne

Daryl lived in an apartment that had once been a motel. It was rundown, but cheap and served it's purpose-a place to stay while he worked and waited for Merle to get of jail again. This time he had been sentenced to eighteen months-as usual he'd been caught for something relatively minor. The man was like a cat with nine lives, Daryl thought with disgust. One day Merle's luck would run out and he'd be sent to the big time for a long time. Daryl was 33, alone with no friends and no family save for Merle. Daryl shook his head again in disgust. Merle would be out in the next week, and then they would leave this place and hopefully find another where no one knew them and they could get a fresh start. Of course, he knew this was a hopeless dream. Where ever they went, Merle would be sure to fuck up yet again and land in yet another jail for weeks or months or longer. And he would be the loser he had always been and find a job and hang around waiting for his brother to get out so they could start the same routine again. He had often told himself that he should just leave Merle in whatever jail he was and strike out on his own-find a job in a place Merle would never think to look for him and at least have some peace and quiet. He never imagined himself being lucky enough to find a woman who cared about him enough to settle down and share a life with him. People like him didn't get to have happy endings. And he told himself that was okay, he accepted that. He could tolerate a life all alone, as long as there was never any more beatings or yelling or drunken fights. Sadly, that old saying-better the devil you know than the devil you don't know-was true in his case at least. So he waited for Merle to get out, like he had time and again before, for years now.

He lived on the ground floor of the hotel, and in the evenings after he'd finished up work at the auto shop he'd gotten hired at for cash under the table, he would lean against the wall by his door and smoke, grateful for the peace and quiet he lived in for the time being. He stayed away from the bars-he had learned the hard way that drinking brought his ever present rage out and he had been in too many fights to want to continue on in that way. So he spent his time either at work or at the motel. He politely refused all offers from his coworkers to join them at a diner, or at a fish fry at one of their houses. No sense in getting to know and like people when he would be moving on as soon as Merle got out. Much less have the people he worked with find out what a redneck loser he was –at least when he worked on the cars and bikes he could forget for a time his past and his family and take some pride in the work he did. It was a lonely existence, but it was quiet and trouble free as well.

He had moved into the motel in early June, about a month after Merle had gone off to jail. About six weeks later he noticed a couple staying at one of the apartments katty-korner to his and up on the second floor. The man looked to be in his early forties, a nice enough looking man who didn't look the type to stay at a motel like this in this part of town. The woman that met him looked quite a bit younger-early to mid- twenties maybe, curvy, about average height, with a mass of dark auburn curls that hung down her back. She was usually dressed more casually than the man. He often looked like he'd come straight from an office or somewhere that you dressed a bit more formally than Daryl had noted in most offices. From watching them, Daryl figured they were sneaking around having an affair. He had heard her call the man Graham, and he had called her Vivi, or Vivienne. Daryl had seen them touching and kissing on the patio, as well as inside the apartment sometimes when Vivienne hadn't closed the door all the way. She seemed to be rather careless about who saw them or what anyone saw-she had a habit of standing on the patio with Graham in nothing but a big tshirt-he knew because a few times she had leaned over to Graham and as her shirt had lifted he caught a glimpse of her bare ass. He'd quickly looked away, embarrassed even though he didn't think they could see him as he stood in the porch shadows smoking. He felt like a perv sometimes, but it's not like he planned on seeing any of this. He was minding his own damn business and they shouldn't have been out there exposing themselves. The nights he happened to see them making out he felt restless and irritable. She looked like the type of girls that used to go slumming in the local bars he and Merle used to hang out in. Snotty, stuck up, rich families, the only way they'd ever talk to a guy like him would be to piss their parents off or as a dare or joke with their friends. He felt that old resentment bubble up in him every time he thought about it. At the same time, the few times Vivienne had shown up at the apartment first and had come over to ask for a light, Daryl had to admit that up close she was even more breathtaking than he'd first thought. She had beautiful creamy skin, a generous and sensuous mouth, her eyes were jade green and very slightly slanted-her eyes reminded him of a cat. Her voice was full of smoke and whiskey, her laugh low and throaty. The clothes she wore revealed more than a little of her ample curves. And her scent, when a slight breeze lifted her curls he was overwhelmed with the scent of honey and vanilla and something else underneath it all that he couldn't place. He felt like a dog when it smelled a bitch in heat-she smelled to him of sex- warm and almost palpable. It drove him nearly crazy on the occasions she had stood by him-the scent lingered in his head for hours afterwards and on those nights he got no sleep from tossing and turning. He had tried to discourage her from coming over to him by being rude and brusque in his replies to her questions or just outright ignoring her-but to his intense discomfort she either didn't notice or didn't care. A few times he had caught her looking in his direction while she was on the patio with Graham and he had shrunk back further into the shadows, knowing if she could see him she'd see the open desire on his face try as he might to hide it.

Time had passed-summer to fall, fall to winter, winter to spring. Daryl wondered when the day would come when the affair would be over and he would never see Vivienne again. He realized he half hoped it would be soon, but dreaded it as well. He knew he had no chance with her, she was clearly out of his league and he wasn't interested in casually bed hopping like Merle did. He had too many secrets to be casual with anyone, and he didn't think there would ever be enough time in the world for anyone to ever earn the kind of trust he'd need to let his guard down.

In the winter, he had heard and seen arguments between Graham and Vivienne. They usually ended with Vivienne storming out and leaving in her car. During the arguments he had started to hear a hint of desperation in Graham's voice. As spring progressed, he had begun to hear a note of pleading in Graham's voice. It made Daryl want to punch the man, yell at him to not be such a pussy, didn't he see this girl didn't care about him? It made him glad he wasn't with any woman, he wasn't anybody's bitch. He wasn't going to get caught up in all that bullshit-the lying, the not knowing, the begging. With his parents it had been his ma getting the short end of the proverbial stick, but he'd seen plenty of men lose it over some slut they'd picked up at a bar. Daryl shook his head in disgust. Merle would be out soon and they would leave this place and he could forget about Vivienne. Merle's ever present voice inside his head would say, "ya sure bout that baby brother? Sure ya can forget that beautiful piece of ass?" and he would want to punch a wall to make that voice stop. Because of course that voice was right, would he in fact be able to put Vivienne out of his mind?

One night in late spring, Daryl looked up to hear the crunch of tires on the gravel in the parking lot. He saw it was Graham's car and was surprised. It was the middle of the week, he hadn't seen Graham or Vivienne here in the middle of the week in a month or so. He leaned back into the shadows and watched as Graham stumbled out of his car. Daryl watched carefully as Graham staggered up the stairs and fumbled with the lock on the door of the apartment. He shook his head-the guy was clearly drunk. Shit faced as they say, he'd never seen Graham drunk. He hadn't looked like the type of man who would drink heavily and then drive.

Daryl lit another cigarette and steadily watched and listened, straining his ears to hear Graham. He could hear some incoherent muttering, but nothing definite. They must've had another fight, maybe she had finally told him it was over. It would be difficult to have a younger, beautiful woman tell you to fuck off, but you should at least try to keep some dignity about you. Daryl shook his head and snorted in disgust. He flicked the butt out into the gravel and headed inside to get some sleep.

Daryl woke to someone pounding on his door. He immediately reached for the gun he always kept on him or at his bedside. "Who is it?" he growled.

"It's Vivi, Vivienne," he heard her voice outside his door. What the hell was she doing banging on his door at-he looked at the clock-two in the morning? He sighed and stood up, quickly pulling his jeans on.

"Hang on," he muttered. He crossed the room and pulled the door open slightly, the gun in his hand just in case.

Vivienne stood in front of him, on the edge of hysteria. She was dressed in a tank top and short jean shorts, sandals. Her hair was a mass of tangles and curls. Her face was white and she looked like she was going to pass out. "Hey, hey, sit down a minute," Daryl snapped and grabbed her arm and sat her down in a chair he had outside his door. He looked around quickly for Graham, but didn't see him. He knelt down in front of her and looked at her sternly. "Settle down. Tell me what's got you so upset," he started and Vivienne looked at him and he recognized the look of shock setting in. He'd seen that look on his mother's face often enough after his dad had beaten her. Daryl scanned her arms and face quickly, expecting to see bruises. "Tell me what's wrong," he urged more gently.

Vivienne took a hitching sob and pointed toward the apartment he had earlier seen Graham go into. "He….he's dead," she whispered hoarsely. Daryl snapped his head around toward the apartment and saw she had left the door ajar and that the lights were on. He looked back at Vivienne, confused.

"Heart attack? Stroke? How?" he asked. Maybe Graham had fallen and cracked his head –he'd looked drunk enough for that Daryl reasoned.

Vivienne covered her mouth with her hands. "Sick," was all she could get out before she leaned to the side and spewed vomit all over the area next to the chair. Daryl quickly stood and stepped to her other side and held her hair back while she continued to be sick. When she looked like she was emptied out, he murmured to her to stay put and he ran in and wet a washcloth and brought it back out and wiped her face gently.

"Shhh, now. Ya gotta tell me what happened or I can't help ya," he whispered. She nodded silently and leaned into his shoulder as he knelt beside her again.

"He's…he hung himself," she whimpered. Daryl took a sharp intake of breath. No, she had to be mistaken. Couldn't be.

"Are you sure?" he whispered again. She sobbed and nodded her head again. Fuck. "Stay here, don't move. Imma gonna check things out," he muttered and he handed her the washcloth and ran over and up the stairs. Stepping into the apartment he was struck by the smell and the sight of Graham hanging from the beam between the living room and dining area. Graham had been fairly tall, so hanging had been slow, as his feet were just barely touching the floor. More like he slowly choked himself to death. Daryl stepped quickly back outside and slammed the door, taking a deep breath of fresh air. Good God, that was nothing for anyone to see. He took another deep breath and headed back down the stairs toward Vivienne. "Okay. I'll call the police. They'll need to be notified," Daryl started to say.

Vivienne looked up at him forlornly, scared. "I can't talk to them!" she whispered fervently. "He's married! I can't be involved in any of this," and she sobbed again.

Daryl thought quickly. Why was he helping this girl? She more than likely was the reason the poor guy had killed himself. Getting involved in any way at all with her was liable to just bring trouble of the worst kind knocking on his doorstep. He grimaced. He'd always been a fool for anyone hurting or scared-his brother had ribbed him mercilessly for years telling him he was too soft hearted, too womanish in his feelings and attitude. He sighed. Just like he couldn't turn his back on a brother who treated him almost as cruelly as their father had the both of them, he couldn't turn his back on this girl sitting here shivering, sobbing and in shock. He held his hand out to her and pulled her up out of the chair, brushing her curls from her face. "Do ya have anythin' that belongs to ya in the apartment?" he asked her quietly. Thankfully she shook her head no. He didn't like to think of having to go back in that room, but if they were to keep her name out of this then she couldn't have any trace of her in the apartment. "Any letters, from him to you, or notes or anything?" Again she shook her head. "What about his phone?"

Vivienne looked up at him. "Graham kept a separate burner phone for us to talk and message on." Daryl nodded.

"Where is it? Was it in the apartment?" He hoped to God it wasn't. Vivienne frowned.

"I don't know. He usually kept it in the car if he knew I was coming here to meet him," she said, thinking.

Daryl nodded and grabbed a towel from the bathroom, then went over to Graham's car and opened the driver's side door. Luckily it was unlocked. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a phone lying on the passenger seat. He picked it up with the towel and placed it in his pants pocket and gently closed the car door again, making sure to use the towel to prevent fingerprints. He jogged back to where Vivienne was standing and pulled it out. "This it?" he muttered. Vivienne nodded. "Okay. Come inside and lie down on the bed and keep quiet. I need to figure this out," and Daryl gave her a little push into the room and shut the door and locked it. He realized as she sat on the bed that there was just the one bed in the room and he'd been sleeping in it. He sighed. Rubbing his hands over his face tiredly he placed Graham's phone on the table next to his. He'd have to figure out what to do with that later. He began to pace and lit a cigarette as he paced. Vivienne sat on the bed, her back against the headboard, silently watching Daryl pace. She was still very pale, but her stomach seemed to have settled for the time being. Daryl stopped and bent into the refrigerator and got her a soda and crossed and handed it to her wordlessly. Vivienne accepted it silently and opened it and took a long gulp of it. She placed the can on the table and wiped her face. He suddenly realized that he had Vivienne in his room, on his bed, with her married boyfriend dead in the apartment they'd been renting to sneak and see each other in. What the fuck was he thinking? He sat down suddenly on a chair as his knees gave out at the thought of all this. He was not a man given to easy fear, he'd been in plenty of tough situations before with his brother-but this was beyond all his experience. He tried to think of anything he could reference as a guide to this situation. He sighed again and bent over, rubbing his face with his hands again.

"Okay. Lemme ask ya somethin' and then I can decide what ta do," he mumbled and Vivienne nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving him. "Um, where is Graham's wife at?" he asked, thinking mentally of all the loose ends out there to tie up.

"She's in England. She never came with Graham when he came to Atlanta," Vivienne whispered so softly he had to strain to hear her. He nodded. "Has she ever met you, or been over here to even visit?" he muttered again. She shook her head. "Okay, does anyone at the college know about the two of ya? Anyone he works with, or you work with? Any friends? Family?" Vivienne shook her head again and he snorted in disbelief. "Shit, I know you women blab everythin', don't tell me ya kept this whole thing a secret this whole time," he blurted out incredulously. At that Vivienne looked at him angrily. Well at least she wasn't sitting there white faced and glassy eyed anymore.

"I don't go around blabbing as you call it," she snapped. "I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want anyone to know." She huffed. He eyed her suspiciously, not believing this for one second. Every woman he had even casually known would have broadcast this affair to anyone and everyone she knew.

He held his hand up to motion her to hush. "Aight, let's say yer tellin' the truth," and as she started to open her mouth he waved her off. "Lemme think dammit," he snapped and she sat back and snapped her mouth shut. He began to tear at his thumb as he thought. "Would Graham have told anyone about ya?" he asked again. Vivienne shook her head again impatiently. "Okay, so," and here he began to tick off points with his fingers, "No one knew anythin' about the two of ya. No one would ever guess why he would be out here in these apartments-I mean, he'd be meetin' someone but they wouldn't know who, right?" Daryl glanced up and saw Vivienne nodding thoughtfully, her mind following the same track his was. "Where's yer car at?" he asked suddenly.

"Out in the lot, two over from Graham's," she said.

Daryl held his hand out. "Gimme the keys and I'll move it next ta mine. If anyone asks, ya were here with me tonight," he snapped and went out to move the car. He smirked a bit when he saw she was driving a red BMW convertible. She'd gotten a new car since he'd last seen her. When he came back in, he saw Vivienne sitting against the headboard with her knees drawn up to her chest, her teeth chattering. He shut and locked the door again then crossed the room to sit beside her. "This is what we're gonna do," he said softly, "We're not gonna do nothin'." She looked at him in confusion. "We can't let anyone know you were here right? Not to see Graham?" she nodded again. "Well then there'd be no reason that we would know what went on in that apartment, so we can't call the police. We'll have to wait til the housekeepers clean the rooms and they'll call the police. Ya did have the housekeepers clean the apartment, didn't ya?" he asked nervously.

"I think so," Vivienne whispered. "He took care of all that. I didn't know anything about any of it. He's the one found the place and insisted on renting it, so I just stayed out of it," she whispered. Daryl sighed. He sure as hell hoped Graham had arranged someone to straighten up, otherwise it would be days before anyone found him. And if that were the case, he wasn't sticking around here to wait for it. He could help Vivienne out and then she could go back to her place and her life and he would move and try to forget all this.

About that time Vivienne's phone rang and she jumped in surprise. Daryl started also. He looked at the clock and saw the time was 3:30. Well, fuck, no sleep for him at all tonight. He motioned for Vivienne to pick the phone up. "Who is it?" he snapped, his temper getting the best of him. Vivienne looked at the phone and shook her head.

"It's not a number I know," she mumbled softly, frowning. "It looks like it's a number out of the country," and as she finished the sentence her expression turned to horror. "Oh God, he surely didn't tell his wife about us," she whispered.

"Let the voicemail get it, then we can listen and see who it is," Daryl suggested. Vivienne handed Daryl the phone as if it were poisonous and folded her arms across her chest. Daryl sighed and rubbed his face again while he waited impatiently for the phone to stop ringing and waited for the message light to blink. "Okay, let's see who this is," he mumbled and pressed the speaker so they could both hear the message.

"This is Eleanor Langworth. I'm Graham Langworth's wife." Vivienne burst into tears and covered her face. "Graham called me earlier today to inform me he wants a divorce so he can marry you. And now I can't reach him at all. I suggest that you have him call me back immediately because this conversation isn't over. And quite frankly, young lady, you aren't the first woman he's lost his mind over and you won't be the last." She would've continued but Daryl pressed the mute button and clicked the phone to mute.

"Well, she got that wrong-you were definitely the last woman for Graham," Daryl bit out in dismay. "mmmmmm," he hummed, thinking again. "If she knows about you, she'll be callin' the police when she doesn't hear back from ya or him. Which means when they find out his car is here and what's happened they'll be looking for ya." Vivienne continued to sob. Daryl stood and started to pace again. "Are ya sure ya can't just talk ta the cops?' he pleaded and Vivienne sobbed even harder. Daryl nodded and looked around the room quickly. "Kay, this is what we're gonna do. Imma packin my shit in your car, clearing outta here. Then you're gonna drive to your place and I'll follow ya-that way ya won't be here when the shit hits the fan." Vivienne looked up at Daryl quickly.

"I can't go to my place, the cops will show up there and they'll want to question me," she wailed. Daryl nodded again, thinking.

"Then we need ta hole up somewhere no one will think ta look for ya," he murmured. "Can ya drive?" he asked, staring at her intently. Vivienne nodded, taking a deep breath. "Ya got anythin' that ya need ta get first-dog, cat, anything from yer place?" Vivienne shook her head. "Kay, then let me throw my shit in yer car and we'll git. We need to hustle, no tellin' when that woman'll call the cops and we need to be gone." He hurried and threw the few things he had into a duffel and doublechecked the bathroom and around the room. He didn't have much, had been keeping his money in a safe place in the room so he didn't have to bother with banks. "We need ta stop at a bank round here-ya need to draw as much money as ya can, we can't be leavin' a trail once we leave here," and he motioned her out the door. He checked the room once more then threw the key onto the dresser and shut the door. He'd already given his notice at the shop in anticipation of Merle getting out, so there was no worry there if he just didn't show up a few days earlier than planned. He threw his bag into her car and got on the bike and waited for her to get in her car and start it up. He'd grabbed the burner phone and planned on pitching it somewhere along the road into some deep woods. He glanced around the lot to make sure no one was peeking out-of course the place had been pretty deserted lately so he would've been surprised if anyone had been up.


	2. Chapter 2

They stopped at an ATM in a small shopping center and Vivienne withdrew $2000 from her account-normally she would've only been able to withdraw a small amount but she'd arranged to be able to draw out larger amounts for tuition payments. She stuffed the money into her purse and hurried to get back in the car. Daryl motioned to her to follow him and they headed out of town in a southerly direction. As they travelled, Daryl thought of and discarded possible places they could hole up in. He needed to be close enough to get Merle when he got released, but far enough away that nobody would stumble onto Vivienne. He thought if he could hide her for a few days until things died down she would be okay. And she could say she'd been with him and that might keep her name out of things. Maybe say she'd broken it off with Graham a while back and had no idea what he'd been doing. In the meantime they could stay by that lake he and Merle had stayed at sometimes-it was offseason right now and the campground should be deserted. He and Vivienne could stay in one of the cabins for a few days. He sighed. He was an idiot, should've just let her handle her mess her own self back there. He could hear Merle laughing at him now.

After two hours of driving he signaled to turn off on the offramp coming up. They would drive about another half hour before they'd come to the dirt road leading to the cabins around the lake. He could only imagine how tired Vivienne was, he was shaking his head frequently to stay awake. Normally lack of sleep wouldn't bother him-he'd suffered from insomnia since he was young, but the shock and strain of the last few hours had worn him out. They'd left the motel around 3, it was nearly six now. They could find a cabin and figure out things after they'd gotten some rest.

He pulled around to the last cabin on the dirt road and parked the bike in the carport and waved Vivienne to do the same. He jerked the back door open and quickly removed his bags and hurried her into the cabin and shut the door quickly. He dropped the bags and began going from window to window to close the curtains, then checked the cabin thoroughly and locked the back door pushed a chair in front of it. Vivienne watched all this silently, standing in the small entryway. He could see she was shivering again.

"C'mon, lie down in here and cover up," he mumbled to her and she quickly obeyed, still silent. The cabin had one small bedroom with a full bed in it. Vivienne lay down and rolled over to make room for Daryl. "No, I'm stayin' in the living room to keep an eye out," he snapped at her. Her eyes widened but she remained silent. He covered her up and left the room quickly, leaving the door open so she could see him on the couch. He doublechecked the doors again and then lay down on the couch, placing his pistol on the table next to it. He'd placed his crossbow within arm's reach as well. He closed his eyes, willing himself to get even a little rest before he had to think about how best to proceed.

Daryl started awake to the sound of his phone ringing. He grabbed it and checked the time-it was just nine, he hadn't been asleep long. Groaning he realized the number was from a pay phone at the jail where Merle was.

"Yeah," he snapped. He could hear Merle cackling on the other end.

"Hey baby brother, what're ya up to?" Merle drawled. His voice was like nails on a chalkboard right now, and Daryl clenched his free hand.

"What do ya want Merle?" he growled into the phone.

"What? That's a fine way to talk to your dear brother," Merle continued to tease. Daryl shook his head and punched a pillow on the couch.

"Merle," Daryl yelled, his voice raising, "what the fuck do ya want?" He could hear Merle go silent in surprise at Daryl yelling at him. Daryl had rarely spoken back to Merle much less raise his voice to him.

"Well, don't know what's gotten into ya, baby brother, but I called to tell ya that they're lettin' me out tomorrow," Merle said quietly. Daryl rolled his eyes. Tomorrow. Great. How was he going to keep Merle away from all this? "Hey, brother, are ya there?" Merle asked, more politely than was usual for him.

"Yeah, I'm here. What time?" Daryl sighed.

"Two. Are ya gonna tell me what the fuck is goin' on with ya?" Merle asked peevishly. His curiosity was up. "Ya finally gone and got yerself a piece o' tail? Did I interrupt somethin'" and at this Merle cackled again, amusing himself. Daryl thought bitterly that of course Merle would laugh at that, why would his loser brother ever find anyone who'd want to spend any time with him. He looked up to see Vivienne standing in the doorway of the bedroom watching him. God if she didn't look beautiful. What a joke this was, the only reason she was in the same place as him was because he'd gone soft in the head when she'd come to him for help.

Daryl tore his gaze away from Vivienne and sighed again. "Shut it Merle, or else ya can find yer own damn ride to wherever the fuck it is you plan on goin'" and he clicked the phone off, then turned the ringer off for good measure.

"Who was that?" Vivienne asked quietly. Daryl looked at her again.

"How old are ya?" he blurted out. She crossed her arms across her chest a little defensively.

"Twenty-one," she mumbled. He sighed again. "Why?" she demanded.

"What the hell were ya doin' with Graham? He's old enough ta be yer daddy," he said tiredly.

Vivienne shrugged. "I don't know, guess I was bored," she mumbled. He looked at her sharply at that answer.

"Ya were sneakin' around with a married man old enough ta be yer daddy cuz ya was bored?" he couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice.

Vivienne had the decency to blush with embarrassment at Daryl's reaction. She shrugged uncomfortably and Daryl was reminded of a kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The kid doesn't feel guilty about taking the cookies, just at being caught. Daryl rubbed his hand over his jaw. Best get this over with now, before Merle got involved in all of this. He motioned for Vivienne to sit by him on the couch and looked at her sternly.

"Need ta ask ya some questions, and I want the truth, understand?" and he fixed Vivienne with a glare, hoping to scare her into being truthful. Not that he'd do anything if she wasn't-he didn't hit women. But he was hoping she would be unsure enough to tell him the truth. "'kay, where's yer family at?" Surely her family would be wondering where she if the police went to looking for her.

"They're in Charleston. The St. Sauveurs." Daryl shook his head, not getting her meaning. Vivienne rolled her eyes and spoke in a sing-song voice, as if she'd said this too many times to count and was beyond tired of having to repeat it. "One of the founding families in Charleston, French descendants, big in banking, law and real estate." She sighed.

Daryl frowned. "So yer family is rich?" She nodded. "Then why aren't ya home with them? Why didn't ya just go home when ya found Graham? They'd keep ya safe right?"

Vivienne shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest again. "Doubt it," she bit out. Daryl was even more confused now.

"Spit it out," he snapped testily. He didn't have time for guessing games and he didn't like playing twenty questions.

Again Vivienne's voice sounded bored, like she'd repeated this too many times to count. "I'm kind of the black sheep of our family-got thrown out of three boarding schools, this is the fourth college I've been enrolled in. Flunked out last semester again," she couldn't meet his gaze and started to pull at the fringe of a pillow on the couch. "Daddy told me if I didn't straighten up he was going to make me come home and I'd be under his thumb until he decided what to do with me," she sighed glumly. Daryl barely kept his mouth from falling open.

"You spoiled little bitch," he blurted before he could choke it back. Vivienne glared at him, and angry tears filled her eyes. "You have money and a family and opportunity and ya throw it all away," he said angrily. "I shoulda left ya back there at the motel." And he stood and started to pace angrily, refusing to look at her. He silently berated himself again. This was even worse than he'd thought. Her family would think he'd kidnapped her or something. He'd go to jail for the rest of his damned life. And she'd go back to her big house and her money and it wouldn't matter to her. He stomped over to her and stuck a finger in her face. "I ain't goin' ta jail for ya, I was a fool ta have helped ya. If ya think this is some more of yer dumb shit that ya can wiggle out of, yer wrong!" And he stepped away from her to stomp outside the cabin into the back yard to calm down. As he slammed the door, Vivienne burst into tears. Nobody had ever spoken to her like that. Not even her father when he had been his most angry with her. She had long ago gotten used to somebody fixing her mistakes and telling her it would be alright. It was widely acknowledged in her family that she wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but she was a pretty girl and pretty girls were patted on the head and chucked under the chin and forgiven. She sat on the couch and cried, confused and hurt that he had spoken to her like that.

After half an hour, Daryl came back in a bit calmer but Vivienne could tell by looking at him that it wouldn't take much to get him to yelling again. She sat up and sniffed, wiping at her face quietly. Daryl pulled a chair over near her and sat down. He took a deep breath to calm down and began to tear at his thumb. "Now, sorry bout that," he mumbled. "Things are bad enough without yellin'" he continued. "If I'm hearin' ya right, no use in ya goin' home now," and he watched Vivienne shake her head. Damn if she didn't look pretty even after crying with a red nose and puffy eyes. Daryl shook his head to clear his thoughts. He cleared his throat. "So, what do ya want ta do?" Vivienne stared back at him, confused. "I mean, ya can't go home so what do ya wanna do? Did ya have a friend ya wanna go stay with?"

"You mean now?" Vivienne gasped. "I thought you were going to let me stay here with you for a few days," and her voice cracked. Seeing that she was about to start crying again, Daryl held a hand up to hush her.

"Yes, I did tell ya that. But what do ya wanna do after that? Ya gotta have some friends ya can go stay with? Some family?" Daryl couldn't believe a girl like her would have no one to go stay with. He at least had his asshole brother.

"Oh," Vivienne said quietly. "Okay," and she seemed to think. "I guess I could go stay with Chelsea for a while until Daddy stops being mad," and she attempted a small smile.

"Okay, who's this Chelsea and where's she live at?" he asked impatiently.

"She's my cousin, another black sheep. She lives in Miami." Daryl nodded.

"'kay then. In a few days we'll get ya on the road ta Miami and ya can wait it out with her." Daryl felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. He just had to figure out how to keep Merle away from Vivienne until he could get her on the road to Miami. He didn't really like the idea of her driving all the way to Miami by herself-she didn't seem very capable of taking care of herself. But he couldn't worry about that. She wasn't his responsibility and he'd done enough as it was. "Maybe call Chelsea tomorrow and give her a heads up that you're coming ta see her." She nodded, relieved he wasn't making her leave now. "go on back and lie down and get some rest," he pointed to the bedroom. She nodded and started toward the bedroom hesitantly. She turned and looked at him seriously.

"Thank you Daryl," she whispered, and his chest tightened at hearing her say his name. Damn he so did not need this right now. He lay back down on the couch and flung his arm over his eyes, his other hand at his mouth where his teeth began tearing at his thumb again. He thought about how he was going to get Merle and where he could take him to keep Merle from finding out about all this. He didn't want to hear Merle's smartass comments or listen to his rude suggestions. He wished more than anything that he had the nerve to just get on his bike and leave everything behind and let somebody else worry about all the bullshit for once.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

He opened his eyes to see the cabin nearly dark. How long had he slept? He sat up and looked around quickly. He could hear the shower going and realized Vivienne was in there cleaning up. He stood up and stretched and walked to the kitchen area to rummage around for something they could eat. Somebody had stayed in the cabin not too long ago since the fridge had some jelly and bread in it, some eggs and butter. In the cabinet he found peanut butter and some cans of soup. Better than nothing. They could at least have some sandwiches and eggs or soup. He didn't want to risk going out for food now. He could stop somewhere tomorrow when he went to pick Merle up.

He turned at hearing the bathroom door open and found Vivienne standing in just a towel in the doorway. He realized she hadn't brought any clothes with her and grit his teeth. He couldn't have her walking around in a damned towel-he had a lot of control, but not that much. "Ya can have one of my shirts to pull on," he mumbled and crossed to where he'd left his bag and yanked out one of his tshirts. She took it from him and went into the bedroom to slip it on. When she came out he raised an eyebrow.

"Found some old boxers in a drawer," she mumbled. He smirked. She swam in his shirt, but the armholes where he'd torn off the sleeves revealed a generous side view of her breasts. The boxers were big on her as well, and he hoped they stayed up.

He cleared his throat. "Um, found some soup and peanut butter and some eggs if you're hungry," he motioned to the cabinet. She walked over to stand by him and reached for the peanut butter.

"Want me to make you a sandwich," she asked quietly. He knew that no matter how hungry he was he'd never be able to eat anything with her looking like she did without choking on it.

"Naw, I'm alright," he mumbled and headed out the back door to smoke a cigarette and pace. When he came back in she was watching the tv and frowning, her sandwich in her hands forgotten. She looked up at him and he could see she was crying. "What? Is Graham on the news?" and he came over to the tv. He saw scenes of rioting and buildings burning. "What is this? Some movie?" He frowned.

"No, it's the end of the world," she sobbed. Daryl looked at her sharply.

"What the fuck are ya talkin' bout?" he snapped and leaned over to change the channel. Every channel revealed the same scene over and over. People screaming, running, buildings burning, looting. "What the hell is goin' on?" he growled. Turning the sound up he listened closely as every anchor in turn spoke of a virus that was rapidly spreading world wide. No one was sure where or how it had started but there were rumors of biological experiments that had gone wrong. Daryl knelt in front of the tv, switching channels rapidly and staring intently. According to the news, major cities around the globe had been severely affected, with the outbreak spreading rapidly to smaller cities. Experts were advising people to head to safe zones that were being rapidly set up per disaster protocol. According to the news, the center closest to them was in Atlanta-where they'd just come from. Daryl sighed and rubbed his hands roughly over his face. Wasn't this just the cherry on top of it all? "When did they say this shit started?" he snapped at Vivienne.

"They said the first cases showed up last week," she whispered.

Daryl shot her a look. "Last week? And they didn't say anythin' til now?" She nodded. "Fuck," he swore softly. He had to get Merle tomorrow, and if the safe zone was in Atlanta then Vivienne needed to come with him and they could all three go there. "Listen, you go with me tomorrow when I pick Merle up and we'll go to Atlanta and find that camp where we can be safe. No tellin' what shit is gonna hit the fan next," and he sat back on his heels and continued to stare at the tv, thinking.

"Can I sleep in here with you tonight?" Vivienne asked and when Daryl looked at her he thought she looked like a little girl who'd had a very bad dream. He nodded yes and went and pulled her pillows and blankets off the bed and made a pallet on the floor for her. He plugged his phone to charge and set the alarm for early enough for them to get to Merle before two. He didn't want Merle to be waiting long if all of this was going on. Vivienne lay down and he lay down beside her trying to keep some distance between them. He listened to her breathing settle into the deep slow breaths of sleep, and continued to watch the tv anxiously.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Daryl woke with a start, his phone ringing. He gazed around in confusion, then remembering where he was he grabbed for the phone and answered it. Checking the time he saw it was one o'clock in the morning. The next damn call he got in the middle of night wouldn't be answered, it could just ring, he thought irritably.

"Yeah," he growled into the phone. The noise from the other end was ungodly. Shouting, car horns, glass breaking.

"Hey baby brother," he heard Merle yelling. "Got good news-ya don't have ta come get me. We had a jail break!" Daryl groaned and covered his eyes. The shit was never ending.

"What the fuck are ya talkin' bout Merle?" he snapped.

"Well, seems it's the end of the world," Merle cackled, "and we decided we weren't gonna stay locked up while the world went ta hell." Daryl ground his teeth. "So I'm out here with some new friends and we're helpin' ourselves along with all the other looters," and he cackled again. Trust Merle to use the end of the world as an excuse to rob places.

"Where the hell are ya?" Daryl sighed tiredly.

"Atlanta," Merle snickered and he mumbled something to somebody talking to him.

"Well, stay there. They have some safe zone that I was gonna go to tomorrow," Daryl said. Merle started laughing harder. He was drunk, Daryl thought. He sounded drunk or high or both. Jesus.

"Don't bother baby bro-the city has gone up in flames. It's crazy here. Stay put and I'll come ta you," and Merle laughed again. Daryl sat up and rubbed his face tiredly. So Atlanta was out. And he didn't want Merle and God knows who else coming here. What to do?

"Meet me somewhere," Daryl said, thinking quickly. "Remember that old bar we used ta hang out at sometimes, bout an hour south of Atlanta?" He hoped Merle remembered.

"That place where we got in the fight with those brothers and you busted that guy's jaw?" Merle yelled.

"Yeah, that place. Meet me there tomorrow at noon," Daryl said quietly. That would give him time to decide what to do with Vivienne.

"Okay brother, I'll meet ya there tomorrow at noon. Anything ya want me to get for ya while I'm out here shoppin' tonight?" Merle laughed drunkenly.

"No, just have yer ass there tomorrow at noon Merle." And Daryl ended the call. He looked up to see Vivienne staring at him quietly.

"That the same guy you talked to earlier?" she asked. He nodded. "I take it you're not real fond of him?"

Daryl frowned. "No. But he's my brother. Only blood I have now. So," and here he shrugged. Looking at her closely he frowned again. "Listen. We can't say a word about any of this to my brother. Understand?" and Vivienne nodded. "And….well, it's best if you pretend we're together. Merle is an asshole, not above rape." Vivienne's mouth dropped open. "If he thinks you're my girl that might be enough to make him leave ya alone." He studied her face. "I don't expect ya ta sleep with me, I mean….ya know…." And he trailed off in embarrassment. "Just stick to my side, don't let him catch ya alone and go along with what I say. Don't mention yer family havin' money. Just tell him if he asks that ya worked at the motel where I stayed. Desk clerk or somethin'" He looked at her thoughtfully. "Call yer cousin in the morning to see if ya can stay with her and I'll try ta get ya down there somehow. If it's safe." He lay down and began to chew his thumb again, thinking. Vivienne moved closer to him and lay her head down on the pillow. "It'll be okay," he mumbled, not sure if he was trying to convince himself or Vivienne.

Vivienne tried calling her cousin in the morning, but kept getting the message that all lines were busy. Daryl turned the tv up to hear what was going on. Vivienne gasped when there was a shot of Miami going up in flames. Daryl sighed. Well, scrap the plan of Vivienne going to Miami. Like it or not, he was stuck with her. In his head he could hear Merle laughing at that. "Sure bro, sure you're stuck with her. End of the world and ya got ya a fine piece of tail like that-best luck you've ever had in your life," he imagined Merle crowing. Vivienne had rinsed out her clothes from the other night and at least had something on that fit now. He threw his bags into her trunk and told her to follow him and not get out of the car until he told her to. He also gave her a gun of his to keep on the seat next to her. He'd briefly shown her how to shoot it, but realized that if she was going to stay with he and Merle he'd better give her some lessons. He'd never met anyone who hadn't handled a gun before.

They pulled up to the ramshackle bar just before noon. Daryl could see Merle and a few other guys standing around on the porch. Drunk. Daryl leaned his head into the car and whispered to Vivienne to keep the doors locked and to not get out no matter what. She nodded and watched him walk toward Merle with big eyes.

"Hey baby brother, now I see why ya were so shitty on the phone, looks like ya been busy while ol' Merle's been away," Merle cackled and some of the other guys looked over at the car. Daryl felt tense already. Daryl stopped a bit away from Merle, not trusting the other men or Merle for that matter.

"So what's goin' on in Atlanta?" Daryl snapped. Merle laughed again.

"Place is a mess. Folks runnin' round like damn chickens with their heads off," and he snickered drunkenly.

"What ya plannin' on then?" Daryl grumbled. Merle raised his eyebrows at that and stepped closer to Daryl belligerently.

"In a hurry ta get rid of your brother? That girl got ya wrapped already?" And Merle pushed past Daryl and stomped over to the car. He knocked on the window angrily and Vivienne looked over to Daryl. Merle looked back at Daryl and frowned. "What, ya protectin' her from yer own brother?" he asked angrily. Daryl sighed and walked slowly over to the car.

"Leave her alone Merle," he growled. Merle punched the window and Vivienne screamed in surprise. "Dammit Merle, leave her alone," Daryl yelled. Merle turned quickly and tried to punch Daryl, but Daryl moved out of his way. Daryl could see out of the corner of his eye the other men starting to move restlessly. Daryl felt his chest tighten with anxiety and anger. It was always the same. Merle bullied and pushed him and he caved in. This time though he had somebody else besides himself to think about. He couldn't let Merle hurt Vivienne, or those other men for that matter. The world was going to hell and all Merle could think about was drinking and fighting. As Merle staggered drunkenly toward Daryl, he made up his mind. He'd had enough of this shit. He was tired of trailing around aimlessly after his brother cleaning up his messes and waiting for him while he was in jail. He had known there would come a day when he would have to get his courage up and break off all contact with Merle and go out on his own. Looking at Merle, and then the men with Merle and then at Vivienne he decided that day was today. He didn't owe Vivienne anything, but if this was the end of things as they'd known it then this was his chance to start over with a girl who would never have looked twice at him before. And he'd be damned if he would let Merle fuck this up like he'd fucked everything else up for years now. He tossed the keys to the bike away from Merle, hoping he'd follow them.

"Here Merle, there's yer keys," he muttered. And to his relief Merle staggered over toward the keys. Daryl strode over to the car and motioned for Vivienne to unlock the door and slide over. He hopped in and spun the car around and hit the gas, leaving Merle in a cloud of dust. He checked the gas gauge and saw they had just under a half a tank. "Buckle up, we're gonna head to Atlanta. Don't trust Merle, we'll check it out ourselves," he snapped. Vivienne wordlessly buckled up and stayed silent as Daryl drove toward Atlanta.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

They were stopped on the interstate leading into Atlanta. Cars were bumper to bumper as far as they could see. Among them were creatures walking and stumbling along among the cars. "What are they?" Vivienne gasped. Daryl shook his head, speechless. He'd never seen anything like them. He looked around and decided to try to drive along the berm as far as they could toward downtown. He'd rarely been in the city so he looked to Vivienne.

"Where would they have a safe zone for survivors?" Daryl asked. Vivienne shook her head.

"Maybe where the convention center is?" she guessed.

"How do we get there?" And Vivienne gave him directions. The closer they got to downtown, the less cars there were on the road going in than on the road going out. Once they hit the roads in town though, there was no way they could keep driving. Daryl got out and slung his crossbow over his back, tucked his gun into his pants and instructed Vivienne to keep her gun in her hand. He was loathe to leave his what little belongings he had with the car but he didn't see how either of them could carry very much with them. No telling how far they would have to walk or what they would run into. Best to travel with as little as possible. He put some stuff into a backpack he had as well as Vivienne's purse and slung it across his other shoulder. "Keep by my side," Daryl instructed. "Don't talk to nobody or leave my side til I say its okay," he continued. Vivienne nodded and followed him closely as they started off toward the center of town. They didn't see anyone besides themselves anywhere, but every once in a while glimpsed down sidestreets the creatures they'd seen on the highway.

As they slowly walked the streets toward the center of town, Daryl saw more and more of those creatures staggering along. Looking around carefully he didn't see any sign of life other that those creatures. What the hell had happened here? It was mind boggling. He didn't doubt that he could keep he and Vivienne alive if they got back to the woods and hills that he had grown up in-they could live off the grid and he could hunt. But it would be nice to know somebody else besides them and Merle and his new friends were alive.

About that time he heard a shout and looked around. He saw a man waving from a rooftop and pulled Vivienne toward that direction. They entered what looked like it had been a bank and crossed the lobby quickly. There were two men with guns standing by the elevators. Daryl stopped uncertainly and motioned for Vivienne to stay behind him.

"Hey," Daryl said and the two men nodded. "What happened to everyone? We heard there was a safe zone here somewhere." The two men looked at each other and then back at Daryl and Vivienne and shook their heads.

"No man, that place got overrun and it's trashed," one of the men said. "We're here scouting for any survivors to take with us back to our camp. Trying to get a good sized group so we can head out somewhere else, maybe a military base or the CDC." Daryl nodded and glanced over to Vivienne. She was doing exactly what he'd told her-keeping her mouth shut and staying behind him.

"How many in yer group?" Daryl rasped. These guys looked okay, but who knew what the rest of their group was like.

"Well, we got a guy and his two daughters, a family of three, my family-four of us, Tdog's wife and another guy and his dead friend's wife and son," Daryl frowned at this, "and us and our friend on the roof. We haven't seen anyone in the two days we've been here but you two." Just then the stair door opened and out popped the man Daryl had seen waving from the roof. The guy was Asian, young-about Vivenne's age. The other two guys were close to Daryl's age

The young Asian man walked over and held his hand out to Daryl, but dropped it quickly when Daryl just stared at him. "I'm Glen, and this is Tdog and Morales. Guess they told you we were looking for any more survivors to take to our camp before we head out to find somewhere safe." Daryl nodded silently. "You're welcome to come with us if you'd like. Andrea and Jackie are waiting for us in a department store down the block. We're heading back to the quarry where we've been staying the last week or so." Daryl glanced at Vivienne and saw she was white and swaying slightly. He knew he could handle things by himself, but Vivienne would be better off in a group. Safety in numbers –for her at least.

"Aight, we'll follow ya," he muttered and grabbed Vivienne's hand and pulled her to him. He leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Are ya okay ta walk? Do ya need ta sit down or somethin'?" Vivienne shook her head and took a deep breath. She felt that if Daryl thought she was a burden he would leave her flat. And right now he was the only one she trusted. She was determined not to piss him off to the point he did leave her.

Glen looked at Daryl and Vivienne and wondered how they'd ended up together. Well, the end of the world certainly contained plenty of surprises. He nodded at the other two men and they headed out the door toward the department store. As they walked quickly down the sidewalk they all kept an eye out for any of the creatures or a survivor. As they neared the door of the department store, the door swung open and two women peered out anxiously. Glen motioned to the two women to join them and they all proceeded toward the road leading back to the highway out of town.

Daryl cleared his throat. "We can get some cars or trucks and take them back to your camp –make travelling faster," and he motioned to all the cars stopped on the highway.

"Okay, let's check some of them to make sure they're no walkers in 'em, toward the end of the line there so we can get them turned around." Glen stopped talking and looked up in disbelief. A man was riding a horse down the highway toward them. Glen waved and the man started the horse into a trot. The group stopped and waited for the man and horse to reach them.

"Hey," Glen greeted the man. "Where did you get a horse?" he asked in surprise. The man dismounted and nodded to all of them.

"I'm Rick Grimes, was the sheriff of a small town near Atlanta. Got the horse from an abandoned farm on my here into town. I was in the hospital recovering from a gunshot when I woke up and found myself alone. Couldn't find my wife or son, figured I'd head here to see if there some kind of safe zone maybe that they would've gone to." At this Glen shook his head.

"The safe zone was overrun, idiots were so frantic to get somewhere safe that they trampled each other and that started the walkers up." Rick shook his head in confusion, and Daryl stepped closer to hear what Glen was saying. "There's a virus that kills people. And then they come back alive," Vivienne gasped and Daryl squeezed her hand.

Rick shook his head in disbelief. "What you're telling me….it's not possible…how did all this happen?" and he looked quizzically at each of them. Daryl shrugged, he had no idea what had happened, all he knew was that it got worse as time passed.

Glen looked around at all of them and shrugged. "Some biological thing that went bad. They never really said. Supposedly the first problems started a week ago. But before the power went out the news was saying it'd been going on longer than that and the government had tried to keep a lid on it to prevent panic. When they couldn't keep it a secret any longer, seemed like it spread like crazy-all over the world. The last news I saw showed cities all over the world burning, with looting, stampedes of people trying to get out of town by car or rail. There were some plane crashes. No one can get any information now with the power down. And either a lot of people made it out or died or I don't know what. We've got a small group back at a quarry. You're welcome to join us. We came here to see if there were any survivors we could take with us, but you three," and he motioned to Daryl, Vivienne and Rick, "are the only people we've seen in the last couple of days." He fell silent, letting Rick absorb all of this.

Rick nodded thoughtfully. "Got any weapons? I've got a bag I loaded from the station before I left out, but do you have any with you at the quarry? If not we should look around town while we're here and stock up."

Tdog shook his head. "Naw, we've looked, everything's been ransacked. And we have enough for now back at camp." Rick could see the man was anxious to get back to camp. Probably had a family waiting for him-if he was lucky. He nodded and mounted the horse again.

Daryl pulled Vivienne to a truck and checked in it before opening it-empty thankfully. And the keys were still in the ignition. Daryl motioned to Glen and the others. "It's got almost a full tank and the keys are in the ignition. If it starts we can all ride in it til we come across another truck," Daryl rumbled. Glen and the others agreed and Daryl helped Vivienne up into the front seat. Glen got in from the passenger side and the other four slid into the back seat of the cab. Daryl turned the key praying it would start and sighed with relief when it did. He quickly maneuvered the truck around to head the opposite way down the highway and motioned to Rick to keep up. Daryl could feel Vivienne shaking beside him and pulled her to his side and placed his arm around her. He wasn't in the habit of doing such a thing, but this would calm her a bit and establish the fact that she was with him so he could head off any bullshit as far as other guys hitting on her was concerned. In his mind, she was free to do whatever she wanted once they met up with the group at the quarry-until then he would make sure she stayed safe.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

They drove about an hour out of town, thankfully in a different direction than they'd left Merle and the idiots he'd thrown in with. Daryl followed Glen's directions and they finally rolled up a steep hill to the top of the quarry and pulled to a stop. He saw an RV, a couple of trucks and it looked like a tent or two set up. Rick rode up on the horse and Daryl heard a scream and a boy and a woman came running toward them.

"Rick, Rick!" the woman kept yelling. Daryl tensed up, he'd already noticed loud noises seemed to draw the walkers attention. The boy threw himself at Rick.

"Dad! You found us!" and Rick dropped to his knees and gathered the boy in his arms, crying with relief that he'd found his family. Glen and the others climbed out of the truck and surrounded the woman and boy and Rick congratulating them at being reunited. Daryl turned and looked at Vivienne. She still looked pale and there were shadows under her eyes.

"Hey, c'mon and lie down for a while here in the truck. Ya look like yer gonna pass out. Lay down and I'll find ya somethin' ta eat and drink," he whispered to Vivienne and he moved a stray curl from her face.

"You won't leave me will you," she whispered back at him, and he could see how scared she was.

"No, Vivi, I won't leave ya." Daryl answered, amazed she wasn't hopping out of the truck to throw her luck in with folks who looked a bit more what she was used to. More than he did, anyway. She nodded and tried to smile and curled up and closed her eyes. Daryl got out and shut the door quietly, making sure the windows were open enough she wouldn't get too hot in there. He loathed introducing himself to strangers, disliked having to rely on anyone for anything. But for the time being he would have to do just that, until he could get his bearings and figure out whether or not he wanted to stay with this group.

After Daryl had introduced himself and bummed some food and water from the group he took it back to the truck and put it on the floor beside Vivienne. She was sound asleep. He turned and went back to the group to see what their supplies looked like then volunteered to hunt in the woods surrounding them for some rabbit or squirrel. Some type of meat. It didn't look like any of this group would be much help hunting for food, maybe Rick. That guy Shane seemed to have been Rick's deputy back wherever they were from, and Daryl thought it very odd that Shane had ended up here with Rick's wife and son. Without Rick. But that wasn't his concern. His concern was pulling his weight so he could ensure Vivienne would be accepted if he decided to leave.

He came back with some squirrels to see Vivienne sitting up in the truck with the door open swinging her legs waiting for him. He could see she was hot from lying in the truck, her hair plastered to her face and neck in places. Sweat beaded on her upper lip and her forehead. But to her credit she wasn't complaining or whining, which he'd expected. He nodded to her and showed her the squirrels. Her eyes widened but again she kept silent. "Gonna skin and clean 'em fer dinner," he explained. She nodded. "After I'm done we can go down to the water and clean up," he offered. He himself didn't care if he was covered in sweat and grime and blood-no sense in cleaning up when he'd get dirty again tonight or tomorrow if they moved on. But he thought maybe it would do Vivienne some good to get cooled off. She followed him to a grassy area a little away from the truck and sat down and watched wordlessly as Daryl made quick work of the squirrels. Finished, he nodded to her and he carried them to the rest of the group for them to cook and let them know he and Vivienne were going down to wash up. Some of the women decided they'd go as well along with their kids. Daryl sighed, but hoped Vivienne would start talking to some of them. For the chatty girl he'd known back at the motel she had been awfully silent since all this started. Of course, she'd probably never seen a dead man before-much less one she'd been sleeping with-and now the dead were walking around trying to eat the live. It would be enough to make anyone lose their desire to speak. He found himself grabbing her hand and squeezing it reassuringly as they walked down to the water.

The water was cold, but it felt good after the heat of the day. Vivienne kicked off her sandals and slowly waded in, shivering a little as the water crept up on her body. Daryl watched her closely, making sure she didn't slip, wanting to be sure she could in fact swim. He didn't plan on getting all the way in, and he didn't want to have to jump in and keep her from drowning. He crouched down near the water's edge and splashed his hands and arms, face and neck as he watched her. She got out as far as she could without the water going over her head, then plugged her nose and plunged under. She gasped when she broke the surface and brushed the hair from her face, opening her eyes and smiling. Unfortunately now her top was plastered to her and even with a bra there was little left to the imagination. Out of the corner of his eye, Daryl could see the women that had joined them looking at Vivienne like a bunch of sour old cats. He smirked. Turning back, he saw Vivienne go under again and then bob around in the water some before she started back toward him. As she stumbled back out of the water, he held out his arm to brace her and keep her from falling. She looked up at him and smiled a small smile. "Feel a little better?" he whispered. She nodded. "Hey Vivienne, ya ever gonna talk again?" he whispered again, not unkindly. "I know ya been through a lot, but ya can talk ta me. I won't bite yer head off," he continued. Vivienne shivered a little as a light breeze stirred her wet clothes.

"Don't want to make you mad at me," she answered, her voice huskier than usual from not speaking.

Daryl frowned. "Why would ya think that?" He watched her closely, biting his thumb.

Vivienne dropped her eyes and shrugged. "Been nothing but trouble to you the last few days. You probably want to ditch me as fast as you can." Daryl saw her lower lip trembled and she sniffed. She may have been twenty-one but she was emotionally much younger than that, he thought. That's what came from having money and being spoiled. She was completely unprepared for life. Well, he would have to fix that if she wanted to survive now. And he knew until he'd taught her some basic survival skills he wouldn't feel right leaving her with any group of people, no matter how nice they seemed.

He reached his hand out and turned her to him. "Hey, don't worry bout that. Wasn't yer fault what happened. I ain't gonna dump ya with anyone." She looked up at him with those damned cat eyes swimming in tears and he could just hear his brother laughing at him. Yeah, she had him wrapped alright-though he would never tell her that. He'd seen what that had done for Graham. Best to keep her unaware of how he felt about her-safer for him at least. "C'mon, let's get some food in ya and maybe you'll feel better after some more sleep." And he led her back up the incline to the camp.

The women by the water had watched Daryl and Vivienne closely and they couldn't figure out the relationship there. He seemed to watch out for the girl, but they didn't act like they were dating or married. Maybe they were related? Cousins? It gave them something to talk about besides whether or not the walkers were going to overrun them again.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Daryl spent the next few days showing Vivienne how to help him skin and clean whatever game he brought back from his hunting. He noticed the other women had tried to make friends with her, but saw that she was still hanging back, unwilling to leave his side or in his absence she stayed around the truck. He tried to get her to go sit with some of the women in the evenings so she could talk to somebody besides him-because he knew he wasn't much company for her-but she had resisted. He frowned at this-but then he realized she hadn't mentioned any friends any of the rare times that they'd talked back while she waited for Graham to arrive at the apartments. He had always imagined girls had lots of friends to gossip and shop with-he thought it unusual Vivienne hadn't had friends at college that she would have missed or talked about. He shook his head and decided it wasn't important enough to pry into right now. Right now the important thing was staying alive and finding a safe place to stay. At night, he and she had slept in the truck, he in the front and she in the back-but he found himself listening to her toss and turn and more often than not when he would step out of the truck to smoke she'd be right there with him

By the end of the week, the group had decided to move on, hoping to find a more secure place to stay. The number of walkers had been increasing and they were afraid that meant a herd would be coming by soon. Daryl had gone on some scouting runs with some of the other men and siphoned some gas for the various vehicles. They decided to stick to old highways, little used gravels to avoid the traffic jams of abandoned cars they'd encountered in and around Atlanta, as well as hoping that if they traveled in rural areas there'd be less walkers to deal with.

Everyone split up and headed out in their respective vehicles. They had discussed trying the CDC, but after another run into Atlanta and seeing how quickly it had become deserted and devastated, they decided to head away from the city and try their hand out in the country. Maybe work their way North by alternate routes and see if there were any safe zones further away.

The second day they'd stumbled onto the Greene farm. After checking with the owner, the group had camped on the large field fronting the property. Daryl showed Vivienne how to set up the tent from the supplies they'd picked up on their drive from Atlanta. Daryl had pointed out the farm owner's daughters to Vivienne, hoping she could hang out with them for the time they were on the farm. The two daughters, Maggie and Beth, had come over to the group's camp and introduced themselves. Carol and her daughter Sophia, Andrea and Amy, Jacqui, Miranda and Lori had pulled Vivienne over to where they sat so they could all get acquainted. Daryl cleaned his bolts and guns while he kept an eye on Vivienne. As he watched, he saw her smile a bit and answer some questions and then he heard her throaty laugh and he relaxed a little. Maybe she'd been quiet because of the shock of everything that had happened, maybe being around some women close to her age would bring her out of her shell.

He waited for her to come back to the tent before he went off to check the perimeters. When he came back to the tent he stuck his head in to check on her and saw she was wide awake. He crawled in next to her and tapped her arm. "Cain't sleep again?" he mumbled.

Vivienne nodded. "Side effect of going off my medicine," she whispered. He frowned.

"What medicine ya talkin' bout?" When had she gone off her meds? He knew from watching Merle going off anything cold turkey was bad.

She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest, embarrassed. "Medicine for being hyper," she mumbled.

He raised his eyebrows at that. "Hyper?" he was confused.

Vivienne sighed. "My parents put me on it when I got thrown out of the second boarding school. They sent me to the counselor and he said I have ADHD-" seeing his look of confusion unchanged, she explained, "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder." She paused and Daryl just shook his head in confusion. "I wasn't going to classes, drinking, smoking, and the counselor told my parents it was because I have ADHD. The medicine is supposed to settle you down and help you concentrate-but it always made me feel like I had taken some huge amount of speed. I'd be nauseated all the time, couldn't eat, was exhausted but couldn't sleep." Daryl snorted in disgust.

"So how long were ya on this stuff?" he asked.

"On and off since I was sixteen. I'd sell it sometimes-you can make some serious money off hyper meds, housewives love it." She smirked at the look on his face. "Then last month when I knew I was flunking again I just didn't refill my scrip. I mean, fuck it-it wasn't helping, never really had." She shrugged. "Probably why I went off on Graham and broke up with him. I was fed up with everything-school, Graham-I mean, God! He wanted to get a divorce and marry me! I don't want to marry some guy just like my dad and have someone telling me what to do and have to behave and smile and go to those damn dinners they go to. I thought he would be fun, an older guy, money-thought we'd travel some or," she rolled her eyes, "something exciting. Instead we end up meeting in some shit apartment, never travelling or doing anything exciting." She sighed in exasperation. Daryl rubbed his face with his hand. On the one hand he could see her point-bored young girl thinking an older guy might be exciting. On the other hand, she sounded like a spoiled selfish little bitch who hadn't really thought out all the consequences of her actions.

Daryl looked at her. "So why were you really getting kicked out of all those schools? I mean, yeah drinking and smoking and all that. I get it. But why did you keep getting into trouble?"

Vivienne shrugged her shoulders. "Didn't want to go away to any of those schools. Never had any say so in what school my parents picked. Most of the girls I hung around with were in the same boat. For some reason we were stupid enough to think our parents might just let us come home and go to school somewhere close so we could be home on weekends and holidays and stuff."

Daryl looked at her incredulously. "Holidays? You stayed at school on holidays?" He'd never heard of kids having to stay at school through the holidays.

Vivienne nodded. "No, we weren't at the school-we went on trips without our parents, disguised as a present. Oh we're sending you skiing for Christmas, to Italy for Easter, to England for the summer. Great. Except none of my family ever joined me and the girls I was with were just as disgusted with their families as I was." She shrugged again and he could tell she was embarrassed by what she'd said. "So we spent our holidays getting into trouble-drinking too much, getting high on whatever, sneaking off with guys." He heard the regret and shame in her voice.

"So," and he tried to think of a way to be polite about this, "so was Graham the first married guy you snuck around with?" The light in the tent was dim, but he could see by the way she moved and spoke that she was very uncomfortable telling him all this-but he gave her credit for being honest.

"No." He wasn't surprised. He waited for her to continue. "Um, the first was the counselor who put me on the medicine. Said it would help with my therapy." Daryl felt the stirring of rage in him. Some guy had told some girl of fifteen or sixteen that screwing her would be good for her? He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"Go on," he mumbled. She looked up at his tone and he saw from her movements that she thought he was angry with her. But he couldn't speak just yet.

"Um, well a teacher at one of the boarding schools, and all the colleges I went to I slept with a teacher. Not all of them as long as I did with Graham."

Daryl blew out a breath. "Why did ya sleep with any of them?" he gritted out.

"Well, they always told me they were doing a good thing for me, help with my grades or some other bullshit. And I didn't believe them, but after a while I felt like that was all I was good for. I'm not smart, don't have any talent for anything except sex I guess." Her voice trailed off sadly. Daryl felt like he'd like to strangle someone. He'd known the world was shit from a young age, but felt it was mainly because he was trash and that's how the world was for trash. Here this girl had a family with money and she'd been treated like a handy piece of ass by pretty much everyone she should've been able to trust. No wonder she was worried he would leave her-probably thought if she wasn't sleeping with him he would palm her off on somebody else.

"Hey, c'mere," he mumbled and pulled her to his side and placed an arm around her. He wasn't given to being physically affectionate with anyone but he felt she needed somebody to touch her as a friend, not as foreplay for sex. "Look, don't tell nobody none of this. Not cuz I think it's bad, but cuz we're all gettin' a second chance now and if no one knows then you get a do over." He pulled on a curl lightly. "No one has to know 'bout Graham, or school or anything else but you and me. If anyone asks, ya met me at the shop where I worked on yer car and we've been seein' each other a while. If that's what ya want. If you'd rather be free of me, I won't fight ya."

Vivienne looked up at him in surprise. "Really?" He nodded silently.

"It's your choice. I won't fight ya on whatever choice ya make. And if ya decide to stay with me, I don't expect nothin' from ya until you feel ready. I ain't in any rush myself, so don't feel like ya gotta sleep with me or anything."

Vivienne looked at him steadily and bit her lip. "Do you want to sleep with me?" she whispered.

Daryl shook his head. "I ain't like that-don't do casual shit. If we ever sleep together, it'll be because you want to and we're together-for good. But nothing will happen until ya decide ya want to for all the right reasons. It has to be because ya want to and it's for keeps. And no matter what happens between us, I promise to look out for ya." Vivienne smiled at him.

"That's the most I've ever heard you say," she teased softly. Daryl smirked.

"Well remember it, cuz I ain't sayin' it again." And he pulled her hair again teasingly. She nodded and sighed. "Try n lay down. I'll lay down with ya until my watch comes up." And he lay down so she could lay her head on his chest and he ran his fingers through her curls softly, listening to her breathing slow and then fall into the rhythm of sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next day while Carl and Sophia were playing hide and seek, they stumbled into some walkers and Carl came running and yelling for his dad thinking Sophia was behind him. Ed, Sophia's father, ran towards the area he'd seen Carl coming from and Rick and Daryl were quickly behind him. Lori comforted Carl and the others in the group waited to see if the men would be back with Sophia. Carol paced and cried and Andrea and Amy, Maggie and Beth tried to calm her down. Vivienne watched them from her and Daryl's tent. She had no idea what to say to the woman, had no experience with anything like this. She checked the guns Daryl had left in the tent like Daryl had shown her just in case any of the walkers came toward the farm.

About half an hour later, Daryl came back carrying Sophia in his arms, Rick right behind him. Carol screamed and ran toward Daryl, practically ripping Sophia from his arms. Vivienne noticed right away Ed wasn't with the two men. She walked toward Daryl and looked at him, and he shook his head slightly, frowning. Rick came up behind him and clapped Daryl on the back then headed toward his tent to check on Carl and Lori. As Vivienne watched, Carol finally looked at Daryl and asked where Ed was. Daryl shook his head and mumbled to her. Carol nodded and continued to sob over Sophia and pulled her toward their tent. First though she had flung her arms around Daryl and thanked him. Vivienne's mouth fell open at this. She looked at Daryl and saw he was as shocked as she was.

That evening, Rick and Daryl held a meeting with the group and included Herschel and his two daughters as well as their farm hands Patricia and Otis as well as Beth's boyfriend Jimmy.

"We lost Carol's husband today to a group of walkers. We may need to plan on leaving here sooner than we had hoped to if the number of walkers increases," Rick said solemnly.

"Your group can go," Herschel protested, "but my family is staying here. This farm has been in my family for generations and we aren't abandoning it," he said gruffly. Vivienne saw Maggie shoot a look in Glen's direction and smirked. That girl was no different than any of her friends had been-they'd been here one day and Maggie had already latched onto Glen. She somehow thought that Maggie wouldn't be staying at the farm if Glen left.

She turned back to see Rick was still explaining to Herschel about the dangers of the family staying at the farm if the number of walkers did increase. She also noticed Carol looking at Daryl an awful lot. She frowned at that. She'd been aware Carol and Ed weren't the happiest of couples, but he hadn't even been dead a day and here Carol was making cow eyes at Daryl. No doubt she thought he'd be a better replacement for her husband than anyone else in the group, but Carol had best turn her eyes somewhere else Vivienne thought to herself.

She let her mind wander and remembered that she and a group of girls had stayed in the mountains of north Georgia one year for a ski trip. It had been a fair sized resort, on a lake and they had ice skated and skied and gotten drunk in the lobby by the fireplace with some college guys. She had snuck out with one guy and they'd messed around out in a snowbank down by the lake. The cold of the snow and the heat of their bodies had been intoxicating. Vivienne remembered looking up over the guy's shoulder and staring drunkenly at all the stars-it had been a beautiful night. She blinked and focused on Daryl and Rick again and saw they were done speaking and the group was breaking up and heading toward their tents. She stood up and stretched and Daryl came over to her smirking.

"Where was yer mind during all that bullshit?" he mumbled and pulled on a curl.

Vivienne smirked back. "Well, I think I have a solution to the problem of where to stay," she whispered conspiratorially. Daryl's eyes widened and he stood looking at her. "I went skiing one winter at a place north of here in the mountains. Decent sized resort, by a lake. I remember one of the guys that hung around with us was always talking about the end of the world and where it would be safest to hide out." Daryl nodded at her to continue. "The mountains. It's cold, there's snow and the mutants or zombies or whatever can't navigate the climb or get through the rocky patches. And the snow definitely slows them down. Plus it's remote so you wouldn't have to worry about a bunch of assholes stumbling on us." She grinned at him, proud she'd remembered this. And Daryl looked at her in surprise and then smirked.

"And ya said ya didn't have any talents," he mumbled. "Seems like yer pretty smart about what to do in this kinda situation," he continued. He nodded to himself. "Lemme go talk ta Rick and see what he thinks. Do ya remember the name of the place ya went to?" Vivienne nodded.

"Sky Valley," she whispered back.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Daryl told Rick about the ski resort and Rick decided he would see if anyone else had heard about the place and talk to Herschel and the group about heading that way. Rick agreed that the idea of being in the mountains in a more remote area was their best bet for the time being. It beat walking or driving for miles every day and camping and hoping no walkers overran them or violent groups attacked them.

Daryl came back to the tent to find Vivienne waiting for him. "Well, what did he think?" she whispered excitedly. Daryl smirked.

"He thought it was a good idea. Gonna bounce it around to ever'one tomorrow and see what they wanna do," and he pulled her curls teasingly.

Vivienne sighed with relief. "Good. It was pretty up there, peaceful. You can probably find a lot of stuff to hunt up there," and here she frowned when Daryl snorted. "What?"

"I hunt game, girl. Not stuff. If yer gonna stick with me ya need to learn the names fer the things I do," and he laughed at her reddening face.

Vivienne huffed in embarrassment. "Well, why don't you try telling me stuff then?" she snapped back.

Daryl continued to laugh but nodded. "'kay, first off this is NOT a bow and arrow," and he snorted again. Vivienne frowned at him and crossed her arms over her chest, a sure sign of aggravation. "These are bolts, not arrows," he continued. Vivienne sat down by him and he slowly stopped laughing as she pointed and asked what the names were and what things were used for. He quickly became absorbed in teaching her about his crossbow and noted that she picked the information up quickly. He didn't know who had told her she wasn't smart, but they were fools.

That night he brought Vivienne along with him on watch. She couldn't sleep, and she might as well learn something he rationalized. He could hear his brother laughing about this but chose to ignore Merle's ever present taunting in his head. He instead focused on teaching Vivienne about what to look for on watch, how to be prepared for anything unusual or unexpected and decided by the end of their watch that she was a very quick study and in time she'd be an asset to their group.

As they headed back to their campsite after changing watch with Glen, Daryl watched Vivienne head toward the horses in the fenced in pasture. He followed her and watched as she slipped through the fence slats and began to pat and rub the two horses there. He himself had never been on a horse and wasn't about to try it anytime soon if he could avoid it. He'd never been around any long enough to get comfortable with them. He watched curiously as Vivienne motioned to him to step over and give her a hand up onto one of the horses.

"Ya sure 'bout this? I mean, have ya ridden?" Vivienne turned and smirked.

"Yep. Used to ride in shows and won most of the time. 'Course that was fancy stuff, not just trotting around the pasture. But Granddaddy on Mother's side lived in Kentucky and he bred and raised horses so summers when I was younger I spent at the farm and rode bareback all the time." Daryl quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Ain't ya full of surprises," he murmured. He gave her a hand up onto the horse and she signaled the horse to go round the pasture. He leaned back against the fence and watched her as she moved in rhythm with the horse.

"Nice pair of tits bouncing around there," Shane mumbled behind him.

Daryl started and turned around to glare at Shane. "Shut yer fuckin' mouth," he growled.

Shane laughed and put his hands up. "Easy man, just saying your girl's got a nice set on her. Matter of fact, she's got a nice everything on her," he continued.

Daryl growled again and clenched his teeth. "I told ya to shut it," he gritted out.

Shane smirked. "Heard ya. I'm just wondering how a piece of trash like you got a girl like that. Must have more charms to you than I can see, or the girl was desperate," he laughed as he walked away, leaving Daryl fuming. He'd have to keep an eye on that asshole, not let Vivienne be around him alone. He turned to see Vivienne approaching him on the horse. She frowned at the look on his face and quickly slid off the horse, patting him softly and approached Daryl.

"What's wrong?" she asked, running her eyes over his face and body. She could see he was angry about something.

Daryl shook his head. "Listen, don't ever be alone with that asshole Shane," he bit out. To his surprise Vivienne didn't seem surprised by this statement. He looked at her in confusion.

Vivienne blew out a breath of disgust. "Yeah, he's an asshole. Tried to feel me up a couple of times already," and she blew a raspberry. Daryl growled in fury.

"Why didn't ya tell me," he blurted.

"Shit Daryl, I've had that crap going on since I got boobs. Twelve years old and my dad's friends were "accidentally" " and here she made air quotation marks, "bumping into me, running their hands over my boobs and ass. Couple of times if I was home while they were having some shitty party one of the guys would follow me to the yard or the kitchen-anywhere they thought they could be alone with me and they'd try to do more than grab my ass," she wrinkled her nose in disgust at remembering it. "One of the assholes shoved his tongue down my throat once and I almost bit it off," and she laughed at the memory.

Daryl's mouth hung open in surprise. "Jesus Christ!" he blurted. "What the fuck kinda folks did yer parents hang around with?" he exclaimed.

Vivienne shrugged. "Most of my friends had the same shit happen to them too-guys and girls," she stopped seeing the look on Daryl's face and started to blush from embarrassment. She crossed her arms over her chest and started to bite at her lip.

Daryl blew out a breath. "Vivi, I….I don't even know what ta say," he mumbled. She shrugged again, and he recognized that movement as the same one he made when he was beyond embarrassed or humiliated and didn't want anyone to know it. He impulsively pulled her to him and held her to him, thinking how the world could be horrible in so many different ways and how parents could scar their children in ways other than beating them. "I'm sorry," he murmured against her hair. He felt her relax against him and she slid her arms around his waist. "Guess we both had a shitty time of it growin' up," he murmured. Without thinking what he was doing, he kissed her forehead and brushed her hair from her face. "C'mon, let's go get somethin' ta eat and get some rest. Yer gonna learn 'bout guns taday," he mumbled and grabbed her hand and they headed through the fence and back to camp in the front yard.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

They had lain down for some rest after eating, and slept soundly until Rick came to their tent and whispered to them, asking if they were awake. Daryl had sat up quickly, hot, sticky and feeling almost hungover from sleeping in the heat. Glancing over at Vivienne he could see her hair plastered to her neck and face and saw little beads of sweat on her back where her shirt had ridden up. Maggie and Beth had leant Vivienne a shirt or two, unfortunately Vivienne was quite a bit more curvy than they were so the shirts were snug on her. Daryl sighed, thinking he would have to find her something more suitable to wear otherwise he and Shane would be at each other's throats daily. He told Rick he'd be right out and gently shook Vivienne to wake her. She sat up sleepily, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"God I feel so damn disgusting," she whined. He smirked at that.

"Hey, Rick wants us up. He's gonna have a meetin' bout the ski resort," he whispered to her and left the tent to wait outside for her. She crawled out after him and stood and stretched.

"I feel gross," she muttered as she stretched. Daryl snorted and grabbed her hand to pull her along with him.

"If it makes ya feel better, ya have plenty of compny," he muttered to her. Looking up she realized he was right-the whole group was getting pretty ripe. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"I never thought a flush toilet and running water would be a luxury," she grumbled. He laughed and pulled her curl.

As they approached the rest of the group that had gathered together, Vivienne caught Carol staring at Daryl and her. She glanced over to Daryl and saw he was oblivious to Carol, and she smiled a little in relief. At least she knew whatever Carol felt toward Daryl was not reciprocated. She tightened her grip on Daryl's hand a little and smiled at him when he looked over at her curiously. She came to a stop right beside him, determined that she would stay right beside him for the duration of the meeting. She wasn't giving Carol any chance at catching Daryl alone.

"I want to put an idea forward that has come to my attention," Rick began. "We already know we can't stay here at the Greene's farm indefinitely. They've been amazing to have let us stay here but in the long run this isn't really safe enough for a group our size. Besides the walkers we also have to worry about possible individuals or groups that will take advantage of the fact that there is no longer any law and will act violently towards others. We need a place that will accommodate all of us-or any of us that cares to come with me and my family. I've heard of a resort north of Atlanta on a lake that seems like it might be what we need to settle into –it's in the mountains so there'd be game for hunting, a lake for fishing, no telling what else we might find there. What do y'all think?" He paused to let the group talk amongst themselves.

Herschel blurted out, "I think it's a good idea. For your group. Me and my family are staying here." Maggie looked over at her father, as did Patricia and Otis. Beth and Jimmy stayed quiet but Vivienne could see they disagreed with Herschel.

"Daddy, I think we should at least think about this," Maggie began.

Herschel cut her off. "No Maggie. I don't need to think about anything. This is our home, this is where we'll stay."

Before Maggie could reply, Shane broke in. "This place ain't safe old man. Ya got a barn full of walkers out there." Everyone gasped and the women with children pulled the children closer to them.

Rick and Daryl stared at first Shane then Herschel. "Is this true?" Rick snapped.

Herschel grimaced. "They are my family and friends. I'm keeping them safe until we find out if there's a cure," he argued.

Daryl swore and let go of Vivienne's hand to begin pacing agitatedly. Rick rubbed his hand over his face, unsure what to say.

"I say we open the damned barn and put them down," Shane yelled. Herschel stood quickly.

"You'll do no such thing! This is my place and you have no say in what I do here!" He yelled back.

Maggie grabbed her father's arm. "Daddy, you can't keep those things in the barn! What if they get out somehow? They'll kill us all!" Glen went over to Maggie and placed a hand on her arm.

"Get off my land! Now! I didn't ask any of you to camp here, get out now!" Herschel yelled even more angrily, shaking Maggie's hand off his arm. Beth and Jimmy stood back, mouths open in shock. Patricia and Otis joined Maggie's side.

"Now Herschel, you can't throw these folks off your land with night coming on. That guarantees something bad happening to them," Patricia began.

"I don't care!" Herschel yelled again, and began to wave his arms. "All of you, get out now! Start packing or I swear I'll start shooting!" His face had turned red and he was breathing hard.

"You can't throw us off your land you sorry old asshole!" Shane yelled, goading Herschel. "We're gonna kill those things in there before they kill us you damn fool," and he started off toward the barn.

"Shane!" Rick yelled and started to run after him. Daryl gave Vivienne a look to stay put and he took off after Rick to try and help stop Shane.

Vivienne turned toward Herschel in time to see him grab his chest and go down. Maggie and Beth screamed and started to sob hysterically. Vivienne stood stock still, too much going on at one time for her mind to process.

"Do you have any aspirin in the house?" Andrea yelled at Maggie to be heard over the girls' wailing. Patricia nodded. "Go get it, quick," Andrea snapped out. Andrea knelt by Maggie's side and started to compress Herschel's chest. Amy knelt over and blew into Herschel's mouth when Andrea stopped compressing.

Patricia came back with the aspirin and she placed some in Herschel's mouth hoping it would melt on his tongue and get into his system. As Andrea and Amy worked on Herschel, they all heard a gunshot. Then another. Dale and Martinez ran toward the direction Rick and Daryl had gone in. Vivienne began to run toward the same direction, but Tdog stopped her. "Stay here, girl. May not be safe out there if Shane let those walkers out." Vivienne reluctantly agreed and stared anxiously in the direction the men had run toward.

Patricia leaned over and slowly pulled a sobbing Maggie away from her father. Tdog looked up and Patricia shook her head sadly. Tdog sighed and Vivienne looked up to see everyone coming back except Shane. Daryl looked to be covered in blood and she ran to him.

"Easy, girl," Rick mumbled as she tried to get a look at Daryl.

"That asshole Shane tried to shoot Rick, then Daryl," Martinez yelled. Lori ran over to Rick and grabbed his arm.

"Where's Shane?" Lori exclaimed and Vivienne turned to stare at her. Rick looked at Lori as if he were seeing her for the first time.

"I killed him," Rick said quietly. Lori burst into tears and Rick angrily shook her from him and continued to walk toward the group around Herschel.

"Did you get hit?" Vivienne asked Daryl anxiously. He nodded, gritting his teeth in pain. "Where?" she asked frantically.

"Shoulder," he spat out. Vivienne bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

"I can check it," Patricia said quietly. "Bring him in the house and get him on a bed upstairs and we'll see how bad it is," she continued and turned to lead the way into the house.

Vivienne followed Martinez and Daryl toward the house, Dale went to stand with Rick by Herschel and his daughters. "Young lady, get me some warm water and some clean towels please," Patricia said over her shoulder as she led the men up the stairs. Vivienne stumbled into the kitchen and rummaged around to find some clean dishtowels and a large enough bowel to fill with hot water. She shook the whole time she moved and was afraid she'd spill the water out by the time she got upstairs.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Upstairs Patricia had removed Daryl's shirt while Daryl argued violently that he was fine he didn't need no one to doctor him. Martinez had left the room and closed the door when Vivienne arrived to give them privacy. Daryl grimaced as Patricia examined his left shoulder carefully, front and back. "Well, you're lucky young man, it looks like the bullet went through and through and doesn't appear to have struck your collarbone." Patricia motioned for Vivienne to approach and showed Vivienne how to clean the wound. "I'll go rummage around for anything I can find to dress the wounds with," Patricia said quietly and went out the door and closed it softly.

Vivienne cleaned Daryl's wound on his back gently, noting the deep scars layering his back. She saw he had his face averted and he was silent. She could feel the heat coming off him in waves-shame, anger, embarrassment. She could only wonder what kind of monster would beat someone so badly they'd left scars all over someone's back. She eased around to his front and gently cleaned his wound in his front of his shoulder. She avoided looking at him, letting him get used to her touch and the knowledge that she'd seen what shamed him most. He continued to be silent, grunting every once in a while as she cleaned the wound. At last Patricia came in with some gauze and a bottle of whiskey. "Pour some of this on the wound, front and back-it'll disinfect it for now. Then he'll probably need a shot or two for the pain." She handed the bottle to Vivienne and Daryl swiped it from her and grimacing and wincing he opened the bottle and tilted it back to take a long swig. He blew out a breath and quickly took another swig before handing the bottle back to Vivienne. Following Patricia's instructions she carefully poured the whiskey directly onto both front and back wounds and then wrapped the gauze around his shoulder to cover the wounds for now. "I'll find something else to put on the wounds tomorrow and look for some pain meds," Patricia murmured.

Daryl shook his head groggily. "No pain meds. No." Patricia and Vivienne eased him onto his right side to rest and Vivienne looked to Patricia.

"Stay here with him and come get me if he starts to run a fever or anything," Patricia whispered and she stepped out and shut the door. Vivienne pulled a chair up beside the bed and curled up to keep watch over Daryl. He groaned and moved restively, then settled into a deep slumber. She sighed and tried to get comfortable in the chair.

Vivienne awake with a start, trying to get her bearings in the dark room. The moon shone through the window giving some light but the bed Daryl lay on was in shadow. Cautiously Vivienne approached the bed to better see how Daryl was doing. As she leant over his chest to try to see his face, he started awake and grabbing her with his uninjured arm he flipped her over him to lie next to him and then pinned her to the mattress with his legs and good arm. He grunted from the pain in his left shoulder and glared at her for a minute until his thoughts cleared and he relaxed.

Vivienne's heart was pounding in her chest and she felt like someone had knocked the breath out of her. She lay still until she felt Daryl relax more and drop back onto his back, sighing.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He rubbed his right hand over his face and grunted again at the pain in his shoulder. Vivienne turned to her side and sat up on her elbow.

"Do you want some more whiskey?" she whispered. He nodded. She carefully leaned over the table beside him and grabbed the bottle and opened it and handed it to him. She helped him sit up slightly and he took a deep drink of the liquor. He gasped and handed the bottle to her and lay back down wearily. She closed the bottle and put it on her other side, the better to reach it again.

"What happened after we left?" he rasped.

"Herschel had a heart attack and they tried to do CPR but he was gone," she whispered. Daryl sighed again.

"Shit. That asshole Shane," he spat out. "Well, now Shane and Herschel are gone. Guess we need to see who wants to leave now-probably both girls and that boyfriend of the younger girl and then their two farm hands." Vivienne was surprised he was thinking this clearly after everything that had happened.

"Don't worry about it right now, you need to rest," she whispered.

Daryl snorted. "Been hurt worse than this, still did what had to be done. Some folks don't get to lay around and rest," he gritted out and immediately regretted it. He heard Vivienne's sharp intake of breath and then heard her hiccup. He pulled her to him and wrapped his good arm around her. "Hey, didn't mean that. Don't cry," he whispered. She lay her head on his chest and he ran his fingers through her tangled curls. She sniffed and quieted and they lay still, listening to each other breathe.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Daryl woke first, blinking and trying to orient himself. He noticed Vivienne was still lying against him, her head on his chest. Patricia opened the door quietly and peeked in. She smiled softly when she saw Daryl was awake, and quietly entered the room. Vivienne stirred and looked up at Patricia.

"I see you took your job of watching over him seriously," Patricia teased kindly. Vivienne blushed and Daryl snorted. "If you'd like to clean up, I put some fresh towels in the bathroom and you can take your time while I tend to this young man here," Patricia continued. Vivienne looked at Daryl and he nodded and she slid off the end of the bed and headed toward the bathroom. "I put some clean clothes in there for you too," Patricia called softly as Vivienne headed down the hall.

Vivienne closed the bathroom door and turned the shower on, sighing happily. She really did feel completely disgusting –she had always been a girl who took two or three showers a day, depending on the season and what she'd been doing. Now she was sponge bathing if she was lucky and she felt like she was covered in layers of sweat and grime. She stepped into the shower and sighed again. There was plenty of soap and shampoo and she began to scrub vigorously, luxuriating in the hot water and soap.

She finally felt clean again and stepped out and wrapped her hair in a towel and began to towel off. She found some toothpaste and a toothbrush in a wrapper-apparently Patricia had been thoughtful enough to anticipate some of their group needing some necessities. As she scrubbed her teeth she thought of Daryl needing a shower and a shirt and some clean pants and everything else. She blushed a little thinking of him in the shower and then shook her head. She looked at the clothes that Patricia had set out and saw the bra would never fit her-curse of busty women everywhere she thought. She rinsed out her bra and wrinkled her nose at the thought of putting it back on. Well, she could go without for a little bit until it was somewhat drier. She slipped on the shorts and threw her underwear in the trash under some paper. Those were beyond hope. She carried the damp towels and her dirty clothes and bra out into the hall and heard voices coming from the room Daryl was in. She walked into the room and stopped short at the sight of Carol sitting on the chair beside the bed talking to Daryl. He was sitting up, and someone had found him a clean tshirt to wear. She noticed also that somebody had already torn the sleeves off. She smirked at that then frowned at Carol sitting there beside him.

"Hey girl, feel better now?" Daryl rasped. Carol smirked at Vivienne, and Vivienne immediately wanted to slap her face. Looking at Daryl, Vivienne could see yet again he was oblivious to the tension between Carol and herself. Vivienne bit her cheek to keep silent and she nodded and forced a smile on her face.

"I was just telling Daryl here that Rick and the others in the group have talked it over and we're going to head toward that place in the mountains he told us about. Of course we'll wait a bit for Daryl to feel up to travelling," Carol simpered.

"That was a good idea ya had there Vivi," Daryl mumbled and Vivienne clamped her teeth to keep her temper from getting the better of her.

Carol looked confused. "What are you talking about Daryl?" Carol glared at Vivienne openly now.

Daryl smiled and nodded at Vivienne. "Why that was her idea. She told me bout some place she went skiing at and I told Rick." He glanced at Carol and frowned slightly. Why was Carol looking at Vivienne like that? And looking at Vivienne he noticed she was glaring back at Carol-she looked like a cat about to launch herself at Carol. What the hell was going on?

Before anyone could say anything, they heard Sophia's voice from downstairs calling Carol. Vivienne smiled her best fake smile. "Your daughter's calling you, Carol. Bless her heart, she didn't know where you'd gone off to," Vivienne purred. Carol's eyes narrowed and she nodded slightly. "Best go see to her," Vivienne continued and moved out of Carol's path to the door.

Carol lay her hand on Daryl's shoulder and patted him. "Well I hope you feel better Daryl and I'll come check on you again later," she murmured and walked toward the door. Daryl looked at Vivienne and choked back a laugh. He hoped he would never be on the receiving end of one of those looks she was giving Carol. Vivienne waited until Carol was out of the room and then she slammed the door shut and came over and sat in the chair Carol had just vacated. Her face was flushed and she tapped her foot in agitation.

Daryl eased himself to a better sitting position and raised an eyebrow at her. "Mind tellin' me what that was all about?" he mumbled.

Vivienne looked at him in disbelief. "Oh please," she scoffed. "She was hanging all over you," she exclaimed. Now Daryl did laugh.

"Oh no, she was just seeing how I am," he choked out, still laughing. The idea of two women getting mad at each other over him was crazy. He had never had any game with women, had never even attempted to pull the goofy stuff Merle had in the bars with the women they'd found there. He shook his head again.

"Are you serious?" Vivienne exclaimed. "For real, Daryl. She was eyeing you up like you're some kind of catnip or something," she sputtered. Daryl lay his head back and laughed loudly. Oh this was priceless.

"Vivi, I ain't anybody anyone would want," he choked out.

Now Vivienne stared at him. "Oh so I'm nobody?" she snapped. He groaned, knowing he'd stepped in it now.

"No, now that's not what I meant," he began. Vivienne looked at him confused.

"Then what?" she asked.

He shrugged and winced. "I ain't nobody special. Never was. Never had a steady girl, sure never had two women mad over me," he was turning red in embarrassment.

Vivienne frowned at this. "Are you serious?" she asked. "Well I don't know about that, but I thought you were something special the minute I laid eyes on you," she whispered. He shivered a little at how husky her voice had gotten.

He looked at her with frank disbelief on his face. "Oh bullshit. Ya ain't gonna sweet talk me like I've heard guys do girls at the bars. I know what I am. And there's no way ya can tell me ya were lookin' at me while ya was with Graham," he snapped. He felt that she was going too far in her teasing now, he felt foolish.

Vivienne leaned forward in her chair and looked at him earnestly. "Daryl, I'm telling you the truth. Why do you think I got there so much earlier than Graham sometimes? So I could talk to you. Why do you think I came over for a cigarette or a light? So I could talk to you." Daryl's mouth fell open in surprise. He glanced sharply at her, to see if she was still screwing with him. To his utter surprise he saw she was dead serious. "In fact," she continued, "I used to imagine Graham was you." He jerked his head up to look her full in the face at that.

"Why? Why would ya even think about me? Or look at me?" he mumbled.

"You don't see yourself the way I do," she whispered. "When I saw you standing there smoking, I saw a man who was perfectly happy being by himself. A man who didn't need anyone or anything. Complete unto himself. And that was so different than everybody else I knew. And when I would talk to you, you never tried any bullshit with me. Didn't try to get me to go in your room with you-didn't try to grab my ass or tits. You were polite and quiet." She paused and looked at him. He was still looking at her in astonishment. "You made me feel like I was something more than just a handy piece of ass." And she blushed as she looked at him.

"I never thought that about you," Daryl whispered, unable to stop staring at Vivienne's face.

Vivienne nodded. "I know. Why do you think I was breaking it off with Graham? I wanted to try to be with you, and I felt I had to make a clean break with Graham before I could do that."

Daryl shook his head in bemusement. "I'll be damned," he mumbled to himself.

"Look, I don't know what happened to you or why you feel bad about yourself but I'm telling you I see a guy who is brave, and dependable and who will keep anyone around him safe. You're a good man, and that's really rare. Trust me." Vivienne blushed again.

Daryl nodded and dropped his eyes to her hands. He reached over and grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Ain't never had anyone tell me all that," he mumbled. "Sure not anyone as pretty as you are," he continued.

Vivienne smiled softly and squeezed his hand back.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A short while later, Vivienne had prodded Daryl into taking a shower and cleaning up so he could put some clean clothes on and she could check his wound herself. "Ya don't trust Patricia now? Ya think she's after me too?" he teased as he sat on the chair by the bed and Vivienne fussed over his shoulder.

Vivienne shot him a look which only made him laugh harder until he winced from his shoulder throbbing. "Serves you right," she teased. "Now that I've told you all that, you'll have a fat head and you'll start flirting with everyone." And she pinched his ear. He winced again and slapped her ass with his free hand.

"Easy now," he grumbled. He pulled her down onto his lap and buried his nose against her neck. They heard a noise and looked up to see Rick standing in the doorway smiling.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said and Vivienne stood quickly. "How are ya feelin' Daryl?" he asked as he came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Shoulder hurts like a bitch, but I'll be alright," Daryl mumbled. Rick nodded.

"Well, do ya think I could talk to ya a minute if you're not too tired?"

Daryl nodded and motioned for Vivienne to leave the room. "Can ya get me some aspirin or somethin'?" Daryl asked her. Vivienne nodded and went out and closed the door. She made her way down to the kitchen hoping to find Patricia. Instead she found Carol sitting at the table with Andrea and Amy.

"How's Daryl?" Andrea and Amy asked.

"He's feeling better. He asked me to bring him some aspirin-do you know where Patricia put them?" she asked, keeping an eye on Carol. Patricia came in from the back porch and motioned Vivienne to the cabinet. She gave Vivienne a bottle of aspirin and two pain pills just in case. Vivienne could overhear Carol saying something to Andrea and Amy about the resort they were going to travel to. She rolled her eyes at the sound of Carol's voice and caught Patricia looking at her. She smiled and asked where Maggie and Beth were.

"They're out back. They buried their daddy this morning and they're sitting out there with him."

Vivienne nodded. "Are you all coming with us when we leave?" she asked.

Patricia nodded. "Yes. Otis and I are too old to be of any use defending this place. And I wouldn't feel right leaving Maggie and Beth and Jimmy here alone. So we're all coming along with you."

"That's good," Vivienne answered. "The more people we have the safer we'll be. More people to take watches and stuff," Vivienne murmured. She saw Rick come down the stairs and thanking Patricia she headed back up to Daryl. She found him pacing the room. "What's wrong?" she asked.

He stopped and shook his head. "Just anxious to get goin'. All that noise last night is gonna draw walkers. Not to mention we gotta do somethin' bout the ones in the barn, and that'll draw more for sure. Rick and some of the guys are gonna head out to try and find more vehicles and some gas. Dale wants to bring his RV, but it'd be better for gas and that if he drove a truck if we can find another one." He started to pace again, and Vivienne realized that was how he thought things out. She watched silently as he paced. "Can you pack up the tent and all our stuff and load up the truck? I'll talk ta Rick and the other guys. I'd feel better if we left tonight. Maybe put the walkers down and then head out, drive for a little while anyway to put some distance between us and the farm. How far was that resort anyway?" He was biting his thumb again, deep in thought.

"Oh, only a couple of hours. We could be there before dark," Vivienne answered. She was eager to get out of here and hoped the men would hurry back with some extra vehicles so they could leave.

Daryl hummed and nodded again. "Well we been goin' in a northwesterly direction, so we shouldn't be too far off from the mountains if just start headin' north." He nodded to himself again. "Go on and pack up the truck Vivi and I'll talk ta Rick," and he headed out the doorway and down the stairs, Vivienne following. Outside Daryl strode off in the direction of Rick and the other men and Vivienne headed to their tent and began taking it down and packing up. As she worked, she saw Carol approach her. Without Sophia. For someone intent on portraying herself as motherly she sure didn't keep much of an eye on her daughter, Vivienne thought irritably.

Carol stopped and stood watching Vivienne. After a few minutes, Vivienne blew out a breath in irritation and looked up at Carol. "What?" she snapped.

Carol crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Vivienne. "No reason to be rude. I just wondered what you were doing. Are you and Daryl leaving?" Vivienne stood up quickly and glared back at Carol.

"It's not really any of your concern what Daryl," and she stressed his name, "and I do." She opened her mouth to say more, but Carol cut her off.

"Of course it is, he's a member of our group and we need to stay together to stay safe," Carol huffed.

"Yeah, and I'm a member too but I didn't notice you mention that," Vivienne snapped back. "Listen, lady-you better forget right now any thoughts of you hooking up with Daryl-it ain't going to happen." And Vivienne crossed her arms over her chest and the two of them glared at each other.

Carol smirked. "I have no thoughts of hooking up with Daryl or anyone else," Carol snapped back. "But I guess that's all a girl like you would ever think of any man or woman-that they're just hook ups. That poor man probably met you in some bar and now he's stuck taking care of you." Vivienne's face flushed with anger and embarrassment that Carol had struck so close to the truth of her relationship with Daryl.

Vivienne lunged at Carol, and grabbed her shoulders knocking Carol down and falling her own self on top of Carol. They started rolling around in the grass, slapping at each other and pulling hair. Vivienne hadn't been in any fights growing up, but had seen enough of them to have an idea of what to do. For her part, Carol had never been in a fight with anyone but her husband and during those she had mainly tried to shield herself from his blows or cowered in the bathroom while he beat on the door. They rolled around until Vivienne ended up sitting on top of Carol, her hands pinning Carol's shoulders to the ground. "You bitch!" she screamed into Carol's face.

Of a sudden she felt rough hands on her own shoulders yanking her up and dragging her off Carol. She saw Carol start to cry, acting like the injured party-like she hadn't done anything to Vivienne. Vivienne struggled against the hands holding her until they turned her to face Daryl's furious face and he was shaking her until she thought her teeth were going to fall out. "What the fuck is wrong with ya?!" he yelled into her face. He shook her again and let her go suddenly so that she stumbled backward and almost fell. Her arms hurt where he had gripped her.

Vivienne watched as he strode over to Carol and the other men and some of the women who were now looking at her like she was a madwoman. She watched as Daryl helped brush Carol off and whispered to her, patting her back. Incensed, Vivienne gathered up what she had started packing and stomped over to the truck and began to sling their belongings into the bed of the truck, mumbling curses under her breath. She turned to look back toward Carol and saw her simpering and whining, pleased at the attention she was getting. Vivienne gritted her teeth and stomped back over to gather the rest of their belongings and back to the truck and slung the last of it into the truck bed. Looking back toward all of them and seeing Daryl still talking to Carol she kicked the truck once, not thinking she only had sandals on. She winced and then broke into a run off toward the pasture where the horses were.

She slipped between the fence slats and walked over to the horses-Rick had let the horse he'd been riding into the pasture with Herschel's two horses-and began to pat and whisper to them. All those assholes could go to hell. If they couldn't see what Carol was up to, the hell with them. And Daryl too for all his bullshit. She didn't need to be with anyone so stupid they couldn't see what should have been obvious to a blind man.

She was focused on the horses and didn't hear Daryl until he was right up on her. He grabbed her arm and jerked her around to face him. "What the fuck was all that about?" he snapped. Vivienne had never seen him look so angry, and she tried to pull her arm away from his grip-which only made him tighten it.

"Stop it, that hurts!" she yelled and he twisted his hand to make his grip even worse.

"Good," he pulled her to him and got right in her face. "I ain't gonna put up with you actin' like some crazy woman. I didn't think ya were like that-so what the hell happened?" His eyes were blazing and his mouth was a thin line of displeasure.

Vivienne felt tears of anger well up but she bit her lip. She'd be damned if he'd make her cry. He shook her again roughly. "If I have ta shake it outta ya, I will," he threatened. "We all gotta get along-cain't have shit like this going on or me worryin' bout it happenin' ever day," he bit out. He knew something had to have happened to make Vivienne act like that. She wasn't the type of girl that got into scraps –she wasn't like the drunk bitches he'd seen in bars fighting over some bullshit. He shook her again and her tears spilled down her face.

"Let me go!" she yelled. He shook her again and shook his head no. "Fine. I'll tell you," she sobbed. "She said you'd probably hooked up with me at a bar and that the only reason you're with me is because you're stuck with me," and she finally wrenched herself out of his grip as he looked at her in surprise.

As she rubbed her arms where he'd gripped her, he blew out a breath and rubbed his hand over his face. "She said that to ya? Carol said that?" his mind reeled at the thought. "What made her even say such a thing to ya?" He whispered, more to himself than to her.

Vivienne wiped her face angrily. "I told you, she wants you for herself. Maybe you don't believe me, but you need to open your eyes. The world has gone to hell, and I guess she figures she'd be better off with you than by herself with her daughter. And if she can drive me away or make you hate me or something then she thinks she'll have you all to herself." Vivienne turned her face away from him and he was reminded of how he'd looked and felt whenever he'd told Merle or his friends something he thought was important and they'd laughed at him and brushed him off.

"God, Vivi, I'm sorry. I…I … don't understand any of this," and he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, wincing from the wound in his shoulder. He held her while she cried angrily against his chest, patting her back helplessly. He sighed. "Look, promise me that no matter what ya won't get in any more scraps with anyone-unless they're threatin' ya. And I'll say something to Carol to straighten her out."

Vivienne pulled away and shook her head. "No, don't say anything to her. She'll think she's right somehow then." And she wiped her face and sighed. "And I'll try to keep my temper in check from now on, but that bitch better stay away from me. And you," she huffed out. Daryl felt a smirk on his face and tried to hide it.

"Well, I have to admit ya looked pretty cute rollin' around like that –no wonder guys like seein' women fight. I never saw the attraction, but I kinda do now," and he chuckled softly.

Vivienne glared up at him and he wiped her cheek. He chucked her under the chin and smirked at the look of annoyance on her face. "C'mon now, tiger. Let's go see what other shit ya can get into," and he pulled her with him back towards the front lawn.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Daryl instructed Vivienne to stay near their truck while he helped everyone else pack up and get ready to leave. Rick and the others had agreed it would be best to leave today-they would strip the farmhouse of any supplies they could use. Vivienne and the Greene girls had been upset they couldn't bring the horses with them, but they had no trailers to pull the horses in and they couldn't worry about feeding the horses while they were worried about keeping themselves fed. They finally talked Rick and Daryl into putting the horses down-they didn't want the horses to be attacked by stray walkers brought by the fire when they burned the barn with the walkers in it. Rick and Daryl agreed they would put the horses down right before they left.

Patricia and Otis, Beth and Jimmy would all travel in the farm truck. Maggie and Glen would follow in Herschel's truck he'd used for his vet practice. They just needed a spare truck for Dale, Andrea and Amy. These three had cleaned the RV of any supplies they could use on the road and at the resort. The Martinez family had their own vehicle, as did Tdog and Jackie. Rick and Lori and Carl had their own vehicle that Shane had driven when he'd gotten Lori and Carl to Atlanta. The Martinez family had their own vehicle. Carol would drive the truck she and Ed had.

Vivienne watched sourly from her truck as Daryl helped Carol load her belongings into the bed of her truck. She saw Carol touching Daryl whenever she could, and watched as Daryl tried to step out of Carol's way and trying to avoid their bodies touching in any way. Vivienne snorted at the sight. Apparently Carol was more determined than Vivienne had given her credit for. At least Daryl was aware of it now and believed her.

Sitting on the tailgate of their truck, Vivienne swung her legs as she watched for Rick and the others to get back with a truck or some other vehicle for Dale and Andrea and Amy. It was hot already, sticky. She wanted to be at the resort so she could go swim in the lake. The thought of the cool water made her smile and she sighed.

"Glad ya got somethin' to grin about," Daryl teased as he walked up to her. Vivienne saw the wrap on his shoulder was stained with blood.

"Dammit, you're bleeding," she exclaimed as she hopped from the tailgate. Daryl shrugged.

"Ain't nothin'", he started and she shushed him. He smirked. "Yer a bossy little thing," he mumbled as he allowed her to drag him back to the house and into the mercifully slightly cooler kitchen. He watched her rummage around for clean bandages and peroxide and some whiskey and place them onto the table. "Guess ya never thought of bein' a nurse?" he questioned as he took a big slug of the whiskey and winced as she began to remove the messy bandage.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Gross. I hate touching people. Especially sick people. Body fluids," and here she had to stop as she actually gave a dry heave and clapped her hand over her mouth a minute.

Daryl snorted. "Well yer changin' my bandages and cleaned my wound. How is that any different?"

Vivienne took a deep breath and blew it out, waiting to see if she would retch. She fanned her face a little and turned pink with embarrassment. "I guess because it's you," she muttered and avoided looking him in the eye.

He quirked a brow at her. "What? Ya mean if I was yer ma or daddy or someone like that ya couldn't do this for them?"

Vivienne shook her head. "No. Granddad had heart surgery and when he showed all of us the scars from the surgery I screamed and threw up." She blushed an even deeper red and shrugged. "One of the boys we hung around with was in a car wreck one time-they were out driving around on the icy roads at some place we were skiing at-and he banged his head pretty good on the windshield. Enough he had to get stitches. Anyway, when they first came in to tell us they'd wrecked, his face was covered in blood from the head wound. I passed out, two of the girls threw up. We were absolutely useless." She shook her head remembering it.

Daryl looked at her closely. "But this don't bother ya?" She shook her head.

"No, surprisingly to me even it doesn't bother me." And she continued to clean and wrap his shoulder.

Daryl watched her finish up in silence and then waited for her to find a button up shirt for him to slip on-pulling that tshirt on and off had aggravated his shoulder. The shirt was one of Herschel's so it was a little big on him. Vivienne had torn off the sleeves before she helped him into it. "Is this some kind of fashion thing you have in your town or something?" She murmured as she stood in front of him and buttoned up the shirt.

Daryl snorted. "Oh yeah, I'm a regular follower of fashion" he laughed. "My arms always feel too tight in sleeves, so I tear 'em off. Been doin' it for years." And he shifted his shoulders around restively.

Vivienne ran her hand up his right bicep. "Well, you do have some pretty solid arms," she murmured.

Daryl yanked on a curl and twitched his arm away from her. "Cut it out," he joked.

"Did you lift weights or something?" Vivienne continued to eye him, taking in his very lean, muscular frame.

Daryl turned red. "Naw, just hikin' and huntin' and haulin' deer around. Workin' in the auto or bike shops." He shrugged. He'd never thought he was particularly well built or very muscular. Merle was always bigger than him in height and muscle and that was usually who he compared himself with.

Vivienne nodded thoughtfully. "You must have a naturally high metabolism. No fat on you that I can see," she continued.

Daryl shifted uncomfortably. "Well, yer thin. You work out?" he blurted to say anything and stop her from looking at him like that.

Vivienne laughed. "Oh no! I hate working out! That medicine always kept my appetite down and when I'd go off it I'd plump up like a butterball," she giggled. "Hope you like chubby girls," she teased.

Daryl smirked again. "Well, ya won't be gettin' too chubby unless we can store up some food wherever "we settle." And he tentatively patted her hip. "Don't care if yer chubby or thin, yer the most beautiful girl I've ever met," he said softly as he ran his hand lightly over her hip. Vivienne looked up at him and smiled softly.

Rick cleared his throat and they started and turned to see him standing in the living room. "Hate to keep interrupting you two, but we're back and ready to take care of the horses and barn and head out," and he nodded and headed back out the door.

Daryl took Vivienne's hand and pulled her toward the door. "Go wait by our truck and I'll be right back. Ya don't need to see any of this," and he gave her a slight push in the direction of the truck. Vivienne nodded and headed off, watching Daryl anxiously as he headed over to the pasture where Rick and the other men waited. Looking up she saw Carol standing by Sophia at their truck watching Vivienne and Daryl. She grit her teeth and kept her mouth shut. She'd promised Daryl and she meant to keep that promise-but if that bitch came near her again and said anything else to her she wasn't going to promise Carol wouldn't get slapped upside her head.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Two hours later they were on the road. Rick was in the lead, Daryl right behind him. Vivienne had asked Maggie and Beth if they had any CDs that she could borrow to play in the truck while they drove. Unsurprisingly to Vivienne the majority of their music was country, but she found a Zac Brown CD and quickly popped it in as they headed out. She knew her voice was abysmal, bad enough to make your ears bleed but she didn't care. Ordinarily she never sang in front of anyone, and only sang by herself if the music was turned up so loud she couldn't hear herself. But the thought of being in the mountains by the lake before the day was over made her feel positively giddy and so she sang along to the music, laughing at the look on Daryl's face whenever she hit a particularly bad note.

Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere

Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair

Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair

Sunrise there's a fire in the sky

Never been so happy

Never been so high

And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise-

Knee Deep-Zac Brown Band

Daryl shook his head and smirked. How a girl could go from being so mad she was rolling around on the ground trying to scratch another woman's eyes out to being so happy she was singing along at the top of her lungs was beyond him. No wonder men were constantly scratching their heads in puzzlement over women. He glanced over at her again and laughed. One thing for sure-he would never have a dull moment with Vivienne.

They pulled into the drive to the entrance of the resort. Daryl's mouth dropped open at the site of it. Some huge brick wall with Sky Valley carved on it. They pulled up to some kind of visitor center and Rick stopped, got out and went inside quickly. He came out and walked back toward Daryl, handing him some brochures. "Here, these'll have a map of the layout of the place. Looks like when the shit hit the fan this place was at an off season." Daryl handed the brochures to Vivienne and looked at her.

Vivienne looked confusedly at them both and then nodded. "Oh, yeah. The resort is super busy during winter for skiing and then kinda dead until full summer when schools out. Then there's people here for boating, swimming, golf, and all that stuff," she waved her hand about.

"Where do you think would be the best place for us to settle in," Rick asked her. Vivienne opened a brochure and scanned it quickly.

"Here, there's a group of cabins right on the lake, a little away from the main building-the country club part. See," and she pointed at the brochure, "there's a group of on the back nine of the one golf course, there's a bridge across that part of the lake and it's kind of isolated but you're on the lake." Vivienne looked up at the two men and saw they were actually listening to her and taking what she said seriously. Her mouth fell open a little in surprise. No one had ever really listened to her about anything.

Rick nodded and patted the truck door. "Okay, I can kinda figure out from this how to get back to those cabins. Just follow me and we should be there in a couple of minutes." He walked back to his truck and got in and started moving again.

Daryl looked at Vivienne and snorted at the look of surprise on her face. "Girl, why ya lookin' so shocked?" He teased.

Vivienne shut her mouth and turned red. "No one ever listens to me," she said softly.

Daryl shook his head. "Best put all that behind ya. Things're different now-no one here to treat ya like that if ya don't let 'em. Now's yer chance to let folks see who you really are." And he glanced over at her to see how she reacted to this.

Vivienne turned to look directly at him. "What if I don't know who I really am?" she asked in a small voice. Daryl pulled her to his side and quickly patted her knee.

"I think ya know who ya are. Maybe that's why ya were drinking and all that-cuz nobody would let ya be who ya wanted to be." Vivienne nodded thoughtfully and leaned her head against his shoulder. She thought for the thousandth time how much happier she would've been if she'd met Daryl years ago-but then maybe he wouldn't have liked her then. She sighed. Maybe it was better that they'd met at the end of the world, now they could both be who they wanted to be and be with each other.

The group pulled their vehicles up in front of a large central cabin with several smaller adjoining cabins set near the water and with the golf course surrounding them. The men got out of the vehicles and quickly began to investigate the cabins for walkers or anything else unsafe. Vivienne sat in the truck swinging her legs as she waited impatiently for the men to declare it was all safe. After a half hour of checking the larger cabin and then the smaller ones, Daryl and Rick waved an all clear for the group to enter the largest cabin. Daryl came over to the truck to help Vivienne unload their stuff and carry it into the cabin. "Rick wants us to all stay in the biggest cabin for now. In the morning we can check the rest of the place out and decide if this is where we want to stay or not," Daryl explained.

Vivienne and Daryl joined the others as they milled about the expansive sitting area with a fireplace on the main level. Looking at the brochure, Rick waved to everyone to pay attention. "Okay, looks like there's three bedrooms each with their own bathroom up on the third floor, as well as a sunroom with it's own porch." Most of the group murmured about the rooms-most of them had never been to a resort of any kind, much less one this luxurious. "There's some kind of waterfall in the back yard that apparently can be heard from all three decks," he continued. "There's a first floor bedroom with a full bath and it's own den. Looks like there's two dens total, each with a fireplace. And there's a deck on each floor. And there's a large kitchen with, um, state of the art appliances." He trailed off, his own eyes a little big after reading the description.

Daryl cleared his throat. "First thing we need ta do is secure all the doorways and windows and set up watches," he mumbled. Rick nodded.

"How bout we let the women get settled with the kids while we men take care of the doors and windows?" Rick asked. The women nodded and Vivienne snorted softly. Daryl looked over at her.

"What?" he whispered. Vivienne rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm not going to sit on my ass while you do shit when you've got a shoulder that's fucked up," she snapped. Daryl nodded and smirked.

"Ya got a point there girl. C'mon and help me board up shit and ya can show me how good ya are with a hammer." And he pulled her toward the kitchen.

The group split up and headed to secure any doors or windows on the first floor other than the door right there in the main room. The women set about unpacking and rummaging around in the kitchen to see what they could make for dinner for all of them. To their surprise the kitchen was pretty well stocked with nonperishables and there was running water in the sink. The stove was gas and they could use matches to light the flames to cook with.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Daryl was directing Vivienne in one of the dens about securing the French doors to the patio as well as the windows. He had to bite his lip several times when she smashed her thumb trying to hammer some wooden storm shutters they'd found in a closet over the windows. He admired her efforts to be useful but feared by the time they were finished she would have no digits left intact. She glared at him a few times when he snickered at her cussing, and stuck her tongue out at him.

"If you don't quit laughing at me, I'll smash your damn thumb and then you can have a fucked up hand to match your shoulder," she snapped at one point. Daryl had to walk away at that to keep her from making good on her threat.

Finally they all met back in the main room and the women told the group they had made spaghetti and they'd set it out buffet style in the kitchen with plates and silverware. They'd found a store of soda in the pantry so they could all have a soda for a treat if they wanted. Daryl and Vivienne were sitting on a loveseat by the empty fireplace when Carol walked in with a bag of something in her hand. She smirked at Vivienne as she approached and handed the bag to Daryl. He looked up at her questioningly.

"I found a stash of candy in the pantry, enough for everyone to have some. Those are chocolate bars-those little snack size ones. I heard you say you liked chocolate and thought you'd like some." Vivienne glared at Carol and opened her mouth to say something but Daryl grabbed her thigh and clamped a hold on it enough to make her jump in surprise. He looked up at Carol and stared at her for a minute before handing the bag to Vivienne.

"Vivi and I sure appreciate that Carol. Mighty nice of ya, thanks." Carol turned pink and refused to look Vivienne's way.

"Why you're welcome Daryl, anytime," and she turned and trotted back to the kitchen. Daryl stared at Vivienne when she tossed the bag back into his lap.

"Not eating anything she gives me, probably poisoned," she muttered and Daryl snorted again at this. She shot him a warning look and he couldn't help it, he started to laugh even harder.

"Damn, girl, ya are killin' me," he sighed as he tried to settle down. Rick came into the room with a bowl of food and looked at Daryl and Vivienne curiously.

"Aren't you two going to get something to eat?" he asked.

"Who cooked it?" Vivienne snapped. Rick looked at her in confusion. Daryl shook his head and stood up, pulling Vivienne along with him.

"She's just teasin'," he muttered and pulled Vivienne along with him to the kitchen.

Most of the group had filled their bowls and wandered into the dining room or back into the main room. Carol was about to join Amy and Andrea at the dining room table with her daughter Sophia when Daryl and Vivienne came in. Vivienne stiffened and Daryl tugged her hand to keep her moving.

"I made sure there was plenty left for you Daryl," Vivienne glared at Carol, "and you too Vivienne," she cooed and trotted out of the kitchen with Sophia.

"See, she's tryin' ta be nice," Daryl mumbled to Vivienne.

"Shut it," she snapped at him. He looked at her in surprise. "Oh my god, you really bought that shit?" she yelped. She huffed out a breath of exasperation and pointed at the bowl of spaghetti Carol had left out for him. "Do you see another bowl there?" she hissed. Daryl looked and sure enough there was one bowl set out with silverware and a soda for him. There was an empty bowl set next to the pot of spaghetti which was pretty bare. Not really even enough for one bowl. She leaned against the kitchen island and crossed her arms across her chest, tapping her foot in anger. Daryl shook his head in bewilderment.

"There's too much for me in that bowl, I'll share with ya," he whispered and was about to put some of the spaghetti into the empty bowl when Vivienne stopped him.

"No, I don't want any of it," she snapped. He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at her again-she looked just like a pouty kid who didn't get the toy they wanted. "I'll eat some peanut butter and jelly or something like that. She surely can't poison that," she muttered and began to rummage in the pantry. He watched her silently as she held a jar of peanut butter and a jar of grape jelly up.

"There any bread?" he asked.

"Don't need any," she said. She grabbed the empty bowl by the spaghetti pot and began to dump spoonfuls of peanut butter and jelly into it then vigorously mixed the two together in the bowl until it was creamy. Daryl stared in fascination at this.

"What the fuck are ya doin'" he asked, a look of disgust on his face.

"I always eat my peanut butter like this. Don't like bread with it," she mumbled as she stuck a spoonful in her mouth. "Try it," she coaxed. Daryl reluctantly opened his mouth and let her spoon some into his mouth. She held the spoon up over the bowl as she watched him. Daryl opened his eyes in surprise.

"That ain't bad," he mumbled. Vivienne fed him another spoonful and he hummed and nodded his head. Then he waved his hand at her. "Go head and eat that, I'm eatin' my spaghetti," he mumbled.

"Well don't cry to me if you're dead from poisoning," she said testily. Daryl nearly dropped the bowl from laughing. She glared at him again and stomped off into the main room and plopped herself down on the loveseat they'd been sharing. Daryl followed her carrying his bowl and thinking he'd laughed more with Vivienne the last few days than he thought he'd ever laughed his whole life.

After dinner, the group split up to take advantage of the running water to bathe the smaller kids and the adults took showers. There were four full baths in the cabin and a half bath with a walk in shower on the ground floor off one of the dens. Daryl told Vivienne he wanted to wait until everyone else had cleaned up-he didn't want to be rushed if someone else was waiting. Vivienne rummaged around and found a gossip magazine from last month and paged through it as she sat by Daryl. Every once in a while she'd exclaim over something and he'd nudge her to tell him what she was so excited about. He listened in bewilderment as she spouted off names of movie stars and tv stars, explaining what they were doing, who they were dating, who had broken up with who, who was pregnant.

"How in the hell do you remember all that shit?" he grumbled at one point.

Vivienne sniffed indignantly and waved her hand about. "Really, you guys always remember who played on what team and how many whatever it is that they got and who got traded when," she huffed.

"Don't know what yer talkin' bout," he rasped. "Never watched much sports, never kept up with it," he continued.

Vivienne sat up and looked at him, a surprised look on her face. "Really?" she exclaimed.

Daryl smirked. "Really. Why is that so exciting?"

Vivienne smiled. "You have no idea how boring that can be with some guy going on and on with some other guy about who did what when. God," she huffed.

"Well, I imagine it's how they feel when two chicks are goin' on and on bout who wore what to what show or who married who," he muttered. Vivienne frowned.

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "you could have a point there," she mumbled.

Daryl snorted. "Course I have a point," he mumbled. "Just cuz you ain't interested in somethin' don't mean it's dumb or boring." He looked at her carefully to see if she was getting his point.

Vivienne looked at him. "So what do you talk about?" she asked, a look of frank interest on her face.

Daryl shrugged. "Don't really talk bout anythin'. Not a talker."

Vivienne nodded silently. "Well what will we talk about?" she asked, a confused look on her face.

Daryl smirked. "Girl, I think ya can talk enough for two or three folks. I don't think ya need to worry bout what we'll talk 'bout," and he laughed softly at the look on her face.

"You think I talk too much?" she asked softly. He chucked her chin and smiled softly back at her.

"No. Just enough. Wouldn't want ya to change anythin'" and he tugged a curl. Vivienne smiled at that and leaned back against him and started to flip through the magazine again. And Daryl realized he'd been telling her the truth. He liked hearing her voice, didn't really matter what she was saying. And she really did talk enough for the both of them, but he didn't care.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Slowly the group settled in for the night. Lori and Carl were in one bedroom on the third floor, Martinez's family was in another, and the Greene girls along with Patricia and Otis were in the third bedroom on the third floor. Carol and Sophia were in the sunroom on the third floor, it had a fold out couch. Martinez, Tdog, Glen, Rick and Daryl and Jimmy were going to split up watches. Rick and Jimmy were in the front room, Daryl and Vivienne were in the back den, Glen and Tdog were in the second den and Martinez would float from room to room to relieve anyone who looked like they were falling asleep.

Vivienne had insisted on Daryl cleaning up in the half bath off the back den promising she'd stay awake and watch while he cleaned up. He kept the door half open in case she needed to call to him for anything. He had given Vivienne a gun to keep by her side just in case and taken his crossbow into the bathroom with him. Vivienne had been tempted to sneak a peek while he showered, but stopped herself not wanting Daryl to be mad with her for yet another reason that day. He had taken some clean clothes into the bathroom with him, and when he stepped out again he was fully dressed to her disappointment. He smirked at the look on her face and crossed the room to sit on the large and soft sofa in front of the fireplace.

"Go on and take yer shower now, I'll keep an eye on things," he mumbled. Vivienne sighed. "What's wrong?" he mumbled.

"I don't have any clothes," she sniffed. She thought sadly of all her clothes in her apartment, never to be worn again and sighed again. Daryl rolled his eyes and went and got a tshirt and boxers out of his bag and tossed them to her.

"Here, we'll look for somethin' for ya ta wear tomorrow," he grumbled. She nodded and went into the bathroom, leaving the door open. Daryl sighed and went over and shut the door closed and Vivienne pouted as she got into the shower. She moaned happily as the hot water poured over her and moaned again as she lathered up with every body wash and shampoo product she could find. It was amazing how disgusting she felt and she'd taken a shower earlier that day. Daryl sat on the couch and shifted uncomfortably at the noises coming from the bathroom. He'd never heard of anyone getting that excited over taking a shower-of course he'd never really spent any time with any woman enough to know what all they got excited about.

At last Vivienne came out of the bathroom, a cloud of steam around her. She smelled of fruit and he saw she had gotten some kind of powder all over the bathroom. Her hair was up in a towel and she'd left towels on the floor. He strode over and frowned looking at the mess she'd left. "What the hell happened in here?" he grumbled. Vivienne looked around the bathroom, not understanding what he meant.

"What?" she asked. He sighed and bent to pick up the wet towels off the floor and wipe some of the powder off the surface of pretty much everything.

"Did ya drop the powder?" he grumbled again. Vivienne laughed and then saw he was serious.

"Why no," she said. He just looked at her and continued cleaning up after her. He winced from his shoulder and she turned red.

"Stop it," she snapped. "I'll clean it all up," and she hurriedly grabbed the towels from him and straightened the room up after pushing him back out the door.

She came back into the den and looked at his shoulder. "I need to check your shoulder," she said.

Daryl shook his head. "Already did. Just get settled and try ta sleep. I'll keep an eye on things," he grumbled.

Vivienne frowned. "Why won't you let me look at your shoulder?" she argued. Daryl shifted uncomfortably as he stood by the window. "Well," she persisted.

Daryl shrugged and winced again. "Just go on ta sleep, I'll be fine," he snapped.

Vivienne looked at him frowning. "Are you that mad at me about the bathroom?" she started. "I promise I'll pick up after myself from now on," she continued.

Daryl shot her a look that shut her up. "No. Ain't bout the bathroom," he gritted out.

Vivienne looked at him in confusion. "Well what did I do now? Why are you pissed?" She started toward him and Daryl flinched back from her. Vivienne stopped and stared at him.

"Ain't pissed. Ya come out of the bathroom half dressed, smelling clean and lookin' like ya do. It's all I can do not to throw ya down on the couch and ….and…" and he broke off and patted his pockets absently for a cigarette then cursed.

Vivienne's mouth fell open. "Well, we can…um….you know…." And she broke off in embarrassment. She'd never had any trouble before telling any guy what she did or didn't want, why on earth was it so difficult to say it to Daryl?

Daryl shook his head. "Told ya I ain't doin' anything casual. If we do….anything….well, then it's because we're gonna stay together. I ain't gonna be with ya then watch ya go off with someone else at some point." And he shut his mouth and crossed his arms over his chest and refused to look at her.

Vivienne thought this over. She'd heard some of her friends talk about guys they'd been with that had acted like this. Usually the guys in question had been virgins or very inexperienced. At the thought her mouth fell open again and she looked at him carefully, thinking about what little he had told her. If he didn't think much of himself, hadn't had a steady girlfriend, chances were he hadn't been with very many girls. And chances were the girls he'd been with hadn't been but sloppy drunken one night stands. She wrinkled her nose. Poor guy. Looking at him she again wondered how in the world any woman had missed how handsome he was, how sweet-sure he was on the shy side and didn't talk much but anyone halfway observant should've seen what a catch he was. Frowning she realized he probably hadn't been around very many observant people, certainly no one who could see his potential.

She sat back and folded her hands primly in her lap. She guessed in this situation she was the guy and he was the girl. She tried to remember what any of the guys she'd ever been with had said to reassure her or make her feel special. She cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable Daryl," she said softly. He looked up and saw she was sitting just like some little girl would in church or something. Her little hands folded in her lap and an innocent look on her face. His gut immediately tightened. She was up to something, he was sure of it. What he didn't know …..yet. He had lived for years tracking and hunting and had gotten good at reading animals and people. He didn't think she had any bad intentions, but he was wary of her suddenly innocent look on her face. He nodded and waved at her to settle down on the couch and get some rest. She removed the towel from her hair and hung it in the bathroom then pulled the sleeper bed out of the couch and rummaged around in the closet for some sheets and pillows.

Daryl watched her silently as she made a nest of about four or five fluffy pillows and slid a sheet over her. It was cool outside, so the room wasn't stuffy. After tossing and turning and adjusting and readjusting the pillows, Vivienne finally settled down and fell asleep. Daryl shook his head and began to pace. He tried to think of where he might have stashed a spare pack of cigarettes and frowned. He crossed over to the duffel bag and rummaged around, irritated, until he felt a pack and dragged it up and out. He sighed with relief. A full pack. Now to find a damn lighter. He felt in the bag again and mercifully found a lighter. He crossed back over to the French doors and cracked a window slightly and lit a cigarette.


	18. Chapter 18

Vivienne woke to sunlight and Daryl lying next to her on the sofabed. She blinked, trying to guess what time it was. He must've laid down after his watch, but when had that been. She didn't want to wake him if he hadn't been asleep that long. She lay still, trying not to move and wake him.

"I know yer awake," he rasped. Vivienne sighed and turned over to her side to look at him. He lay on his back, his right arm behind his head and winced slightly at her movement.

"What time is it?" she whispered.

"bout nine," he mumbled sleepily. "Just wanted to catch a little sleep before I go out with Rick and Glen and, um," he yawned, "and check out some of the buildings back at the entrance." He breathed deeply and she could see he was fighting sleep. She lay down quietly and kept as still as she could so he'd go back to sleep. He groaned and rolled over toward her, his face just inches from hers. Vivienne closed her eyes, willing herself to be still.

She started awake at a knock on the doorway. Daryl sat up quickly, looking around the room dazedly. Looking to the door, Vivienne could see Rick standing there smiling.

"hey Daryl, you want to head out to check out some of the other buildings?" Daryl nodded groggily and stood up and stretched, wincing again. He picked his crossbow up and slung it over his shoulder. Vivienne sat up on her knees and cleared her throat.

"Yes?" Rick asked. Daryl refused to look at her, and Vivienne straightened her clothes and flung her mass of curls back over her shoulder.

"Can I come too? The country club might have some clothes in there." Rick looked at Daryl before answering. Daryl shook his head slightly.

"How bout you tell us what you need and we'll pick up anything we can find. I have to get some stuff for some of the others in the group too," Rick answered. Vivienne glared at Daryl, who still wouldn't look at her. "It'll be safer for you to wait here until we see what's going on out there," Rick coaxed. Vivienne felt bad she was putting Rick in the middle of this and she grudgingly nodded. "Okay, just write what you need on the list they've got going out in the main room," and he turned and left the doorway. Daryl followed Rick closely behind and Vivienne huffed and followed as well. It wasn't until she stepped into the main room to find the list that she realized how the clothes she had on emphasized her curves. The men stopped and stared at her and the women just stared. They all had something halfway decent on, whereas Vivienne had on a pair of Daryl's boxers and one of his ripped up tshirts. She felt like she was doing the walk of shame in front of everyone, and hadn't even done anything to be ashamed about. Of course, when she saw Carol glaring at her she was sort of glad she was dressed like this. Let Carol think she and Daryl were sleeping together, maybe the old cow would leave Daryl alone.

She flicked her hair back over her shoulder again and crossed to the table where the list lay. No sense in acting embarrassed now, she thought ruefully. She picked the list up and slowly ran her eyes over it. Nothing really that she'd want. She was sure that the country club as well as the main office buildings had gift shop and stores that sold clothing for golfing or tennis or just shorts and tshirts. Tennis shoes or sandals. Maybe some underwear. Surely they sold that. She grabbed the pen and tapped the pad thoughtfully. She walked over to Daryl and stood in front of him patiently, forcing him to look her in the face. "I think I remember they had shops in the main buildings-you know, in case you forgot stuff. Like shampoo, toothpaste, that junk. And some shops that sold clothes. And they have clothes in the country club shop too-golf stuff." Daryl nodded silently, his face pink from embarrassment. He shifted uncomfortably at the sight of the swell of her breasts in the armholes of his shirt. "Can you pick me up some skirts or shorts and some tops? Oh and some shoes too, sandals would be nice," Daryl sighed tiredly.

"Go get dressed and ya can come with us, but hurry it up," he snapped. Vivienne smiled at him and hurried off to the den they'd slept in to pull on her shorts from the day before over Daryl's boxers. She didn't care. Hopefully she'd have some nice things to wear in an hour or so. She hurried back to the main room and Daryl jerked his head for her to follow him out the front door.

Rick, Daryl and Vivienne were in Rick's truck and Glen and Martinez followed in the Green's truck. They drove slowly keeping an eye out for any walkers or any other inhabitants. Surprisingly they saw neither. Vivienne read aloud from a brochure- the resort had been a 2500 acre cattle ranch and had been developed into the resort. The lake was a twelve acre lake and there were two golf courses, several swimming pools with hot tubs, tennis courts and hiking trails. There were 500 single family homes and 300 condos on the property. The clubhouse by itself was over 13,000 square feet. Daryl hummed as she read and Rick asked her questions once in a while.

"Well, this place is big enough that there could be other people here and we might never run into them," Rick said at last. "And if the place was in an off season period when all this happened, we may just get lucky and find that the buildings haven't been ransacked and looted." Vivienne brightened at this, thinking of all the clothes she could stock up on-and no credit card bill to go to her father who would then threaten as always to cut her limit. She wiggled a bit in anticipation of shopping and smiled over at Daryl. He couldn't help himself and found himself smiling back.

"We can find you some more shirts," she teased.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "No golf shirts. Nothing preppy," he grumbled. Vivienne laughed happily at the thought of Daryl in a golf shirt. Rick smiled thinking of it too.

Finally they pulled up in front of the main building with it's shops and offices. Daryl had to put an arm up to prevent Vivienne from springing out of the truck and running to the doors. "Now, stick by me and don't go runnin' in there like a crazy person," Daryl grumbled. Vivienne nodded excitedly.

"You know, they probably have sports stuff in there," she whispered excitedly to him.

Daryl frowned. "What?"

Vivienne rolled her eyes. "You know, guns and stuff like that," she huffed. Rick snorted and she turned to glare at him.

Daryl sighed. "It's hunting and fishing gear, not sports stuff," he explained patiently.

"Yeah, that stuff," Vivienne exclaimed. Daryl rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation.

"Okay, we're all going to walk in, and you are going to stay right by my side," Daryl gritted out, giving her a stern look. Vivienne bobbed her head yes and her smile was even bigger. Daryl nodded at Rick and they got out and motioned to Glen and Martinez. They approached the double glass doors cautiously and peered in.

"Oh my god, I think that's a Charlotte Russe, or maybe it's a Forever 21," Vivienne squealed. All four men shushed her at once and she blushed. Daryl motioned for her to get to his side behind him as he and Rick banged on the doors to draw out any walkers. They saw a couple stumble toward the doors and Daryl opened the door and quickly dispatched both with his knife. Vivienne wrinkled her nose and waited for him to drag them out of the way so she could step through the door. Daryl grabbed her arm and pulled her to his side.

"Now, we're gonna go shop by shop, all together to make sure it's safe. If it's safe ya can pick some stuff out for you and everyone else back at the cabin." Vivienne nodded eagerly and followed closely on Daryl's heels as he and Rick crept cautiously along by what looked like the lobby and the concierge desk where guests would check in. Glen and Martinez brought up the rear. Every sound echoed, and they saw and heard no more walkers. Occasionally Daryl would nod at Vivienne and she would run into a store and start filling up shopping bags with items she thought would like nice on the Green girls, Andrea and Amy, Lori, Jacqui, Patricia, Morales's wife and daughter….everyone really except Carol. Glen and Martinez took turns taking bags out to the truck. There were a few upscale clothing stores, a couple of jewelry stores, a makeup and perfume store, two shoe stores, and thankfully a sports store that sold camo, boots, hunting and fishing gear. Daryl had nodded to Vivienne that she could look at the makeup and jewelry if someone went with her and she dragged Glen along, persuading him by telling him Maggie had mentioned this or that-which Maggie hadn't but Vivienne thought she would've if she'd thought about it.

Vivienne came out of the stores with more bags full of every shade of lipstick and blush and eyeshadow imaginable, as well as multiple bottles of various perfumes not to mention rings and bracelets and earrings of varying gemstones. She had persuaded Glen to get Maggie a ring-not an engagement ring but a sort of promise ring. She had picked out other jewelry for all the other females in the group-except Carol. Glen looked at her. "Vivienne, you'll have to find something for Carol or else it'll start a fuss again," Glen pleaded.

Vivienne sighed. "You're right. You pick something out for her and we'll all give it to her," and she drifted back over to look at some watches. Glen peered in each case, trying to think what Carol would like. He couldn't remember her wearing much jewelry. Maybe some earrings? He picked out a pair of diamond studs and deposited them into the bag.

Daryl cleared his throat and smirked. "You girls done here?" Glen blushed and Vivienne waved at him dismissively. He cleared his throat again. Vivienne turned to see he and Rick loaded down with everything they could carry from the sports store. She laughed.

"Oh, who's the crazy person in the store now?" she teased.

"This is stuff we need," Daryl huffed.

"Well I need my jewelry and makeup and perfume," Vivienne teased. He shook his head, he wasn't going to win this one.

Martinez spoke up. "Hey there's supposed to be some kind of liquor store here too." He was looking at the little directory posted by the concierge desk.

"Wine I bet!" Vivienne yelped. Daryl rolled his eyes. Martinez and Rick headed toward the liquor store while Glen, Vivienne and Daryl took their bags to the trucks.

"What about food? Any grocery stores here?" Daryl mumbled, looking at how many bags were already stuffed into the beds of both trucks.

"Should be some kind of small specialty something," Vivienne mumbled, stepping closer to the directory and scanning it. "Oh here's one." She pointed out.

"Hey Glen, ya go with her and I'll keep an eye on the trucks," Daryl mumbled. He lit a cigarette and took a drag smirking at the look on Glen's face.

A short while later Rick and Martinez came back out with wine and whiskey and beer. "There's plenty more in there," Martinez said, "but we don't have room for it with all the other stuff." Daryl nodded.

Glen and Vivienne came out carrying more bags. "They had caviar!" Vivienne trilled.

Daryl frowned. "Did they have anything anyone can eat?" he snapped. He was tired and all this shopping was wearing on his nerves. Not to mention he wanted to get back to the cabin and look at all the guns and ammo and other supplies he and Rick had gotten.

"Well of course!" Vivienne answered. She and Glen loaded their bags in the truck bed and Daryl motioned for her to get into the truck and they headed back to their cabin.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

They pulled into the drive and began to unload the bags and take them into the cabin. Vivienne tried to remember which particular bags she had tucked her particular choices in and finding them she carried them straight back to the den she and Daryl had slept in. Then she went back to helping unload the trucks. The others at the cabin helped unload and oohed and ahhed over everything. It was like Christmas for everyone. Finally some new clothes and food and they were in a place that seemed safe for now. Vivienne decided the best way to avoid picking anything directly out for Carol was to tell the women that the clothes were for all of them and they were free to pick out what they wanted for themselves. Glen and Martinez had made sure to pick up some jeans and shirts for the men in the group to wear as well and they laid those out for the guys to pick through. Daryl and Rick showed the guys all the items they'd retrieved from the sports store-Daryl had found some bolts and another crossbow, they'd found guns, ammo, fishing gear and the men were talking and looking at the camo Daryl and Rick had brought back.

Vivienne had sorted through all the bags to make sure she'd gotten all the ones that were strictly hers before she hurried back to the den to change into some clothes that would actually fit her right. She shut the door and stripped off what she was wearing and laid all the clothes she'd brought back here out on the bed. She hadn't found a bra to bring back, but the one she'd been wearing would have to do for now. She had to admit for all it had been through lately it still looked pretty on her. She'd found some underwear to wear-some of that small, lacey stuff she'd worn on dates and slipped that on as well. She was bending over trying to decide what shirt to wear when the door swung open and their stood Daryl with his arms full of camo. He stopped dead in his tracks seeing Vivienne with just her bare essentials on. His face turned beet red and he tried to back out the door.

"Oh for pete's sake," Vivienne said, "I've got as much on now as I do when I'm swimming. Just come in and put your stuff down," and she picked up a shirt and held it against her. "Does this look okay? Is the color good?" Daryl nodded wordlessly, still standing in the doorway. Vivienne sighed and slipped the top on. She rummaged around and found some shorts and slipped those on as well. "Better?" she teased and Daryl nodded and walked to the other couch and dumped the camo on it. Vivienne saw the way he looked at the mess she'd made and quickly began folding the clothes into neat little piles and placed them on the sideboard behind the sofa bed. She straightened out the sheets and stepped over to help him sort through his clothes.

He explained what each item was for as she helped him and smirked at her shocked look. "I had no idea you had to have all this for hunting," she whispered as she folded yet another pair of coveralls.

"Well, I guess it's kinda like what you brought back. Ya don't really need it all, but it's nice to have a variety," he mumbled. He hadn't realized that he himself had gone a little crazy in the sports store. He'd never had any kind of quality hunting clothing or gear and he had made sure to get a little bit of everything. He took a pair of camo pants and went into the bathroom and changed into them. He came back out, smiling.

"Wow, those look good on you," Vivienne said, and nodded. He picked up a tshirt and started to rip off the sleeves and then stepped into the bathroom to change shirts. "No you don't," Vivienne snapped and caught him by the arm. "I need to check your boo boo," she said and he blushed. He stared at her, and realized she wasn't going to let this go. He quickly stripped off his shirt and averted his eyes as she removed the bandage and inspected the wound from the front and back. As she checked it from the back, she felt him tense up and flinch. She frowned. She ran her hand very lightly over his back, and he flinched again. She softly kissed his back and then wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. She felt a little bit of the tension leave him. He placed his hands over hers across his abdomen and squeezed them.

"How's my boo boo look?" he whispered. Vivienne kissed him softly again and stepped back.

"Looks good I think. I mean, no red streaks, nothing oozing. I'll ask Patricia to check it for you if you want," and she moved to go get Patricia. He stopped her and shook his head.

"I trust ya," he murmured and handed her some clean gauze he'd been holding. She nodded and wordlessly wrapped his wound and then he slipped his new shirt on. His back covered he turned to look at her and brushed a curl from her face. "Thanks," and he kissed her cheek softly. Vivienne nodded and patted his hand. "Let's go see how everyone likes their stuff," he murmured and he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Daryl had waited impatiently while Vivienne made sure to put some diamond studs in her ears-each ear had three piercings and she'd gotten screwback earrings of varying size, as well as snapping an emerald cut pink tourmaline necklace around her neck, placed a ring on each ring finger and on her fuck you fingers as well as one on one of her thumbs. She'd asked him to clasp the pearl and sterling silver ankle bracelet she'd handed him while she clasped her rather large tennis bracelet on her right wrist and some type of expensive looking watch on her left wrist.

"Ya sure there was anything left for anyone else ta have?" he'd snapped as he fumbled with the anklet. Vivienne sniffed indignantly and flounced out the door toward the main room, Daryl following her shaking his head. If this is what it took to make a woman happy, he was glad he'd met Vivienne after the shit hit the fan because he would never have been able to afford her in his old life.

As they entered the main room, he saw their group still prowling through the items they'd brought back. Rick and the other men were discussing going back to the main building to grab more supplies from the sports store and look at some of the other buildings around the resort. He left Vivienne with Maggie and Beth and strode over to the other guys to join in the conversation after whispering in her ear to behave. She'd stuck her tongue out at him and plopped down on the arm of the chair Maggie was sitting in.

"Glen said you'd helped him pick my ring out," Maggie had said proudly, holding her hand out to see again how pretty it looked on her hand.

"Well, I just confirmed his choice," Vivienne replied smoothly. Beth, Amy, Andrea and Lori were looking over what Vivienne had picked out for herself and showing her what they'd decided they wanted. Patricia, Jacqui and Miranda were sitting on a couch and looking over some of the clothes they'd decided they wanted. Vivienne looked up to see Carol gazing at her speculatively. Oh well, she'd done her part and made sure Carol had her choice of clothes and she saw Carol had put her earrings on. If Carol wasn't happy too bad.

"I'm starving," Vivienne announced and headed to the kitchen to rummage through the food they'd brought back from their raid. She pulled out a jar of black lava cashews, various cheeses and sausages, a couple bags of crostini, and some olives. She yanked a plate from the cupboard and piled a little of each item onto the plate and left the rest out for anyone else who wanted a snack. She looked around for the wine that had been brought and grabbed a bottle of Moscato d'Asti and a wine glass.

She placed the bottle on the island and rummaged again, this time for a corkscrew. Looking up she saw Carol watching her. Vivienne found the corkscrew and began to apply it to the cork. She popped the cork out after a bit of a struggle, and poured herself a generous glass of the wine. She looked at Carol and lifted a brow. "Would you like a glass Carol?" she said in her best fake sweet voice. Carol shook her head and Vivienne shrugged. "More for me then," she chirped and headed out the doorway with her plate in one hand and her glass in the other.

She sat the plate down on the coffee table in front of Maggie and waved her hand. "Help yourselves girls, there's plenty more in the kitchen too," and she popped an olive into her mouth and took a deep drink of the wine. The women eagerly launched themselves at the plate asking Vivienne what the various cheeses were and what kind of wine she was drinking. "We should all have a drink," Vivienne announced and trotted back into the kitchen to grab more wine. Andrea followed her and pulled some glasses from the cupboards and followed Vivienne back to the main room.

Daryl looked up to see Vivienne opening wine bottles and pouring glasses for all the women. Except Carol. He frowned. He'd told her to be nice, was she being rude to Carol? He watched silently as he saw Carol wander over toward the group of men he was standing with. He noticed Carol looking at him and sighing softly he walked over to her.

"Is she even old enough to be drinking?" Carol whispered to Daryl. He frowned.

"Yeah, she's old enough. And what's it matter anyway, not like the cops are gonna haul us in for her drinking underage," he answered tersely. Carol nodded and walked back toward the women. Daryl rubbed his hand over his face and hummed in his throat as he watched Vivienne pour herself another glass. He sure hoped she didn't get shitfaced. He didn't know if she was a happy drunk, an angry one or one that cried all night. And he didn't feel like finding out right now. He wanted to catch a little rest before going on watch tonight. The guys had agreed that the group should continue to hang together here until they had explored more of the resort to see if there were any more survivors somewhere on the property.

As the afternoon wore on, Vivienne was enjoying herself. The wine had gone right to her head and she was feeling happy. The other women looked like they were feeling pretty happy too. She looked at the bottle and saw it was empty. "Here's a dead soldier," she announced and grabbed a third bottle to open. The women were relaxed and laughing, talking about things they had done before the virus had hit. Vivienne poured another glass of wine and began to drink it down.

Daryl crossed the room to her, deciding that it would be better to risk her getting angry now than to lie in the bed and worry what trouble she would get up to with alcohol in her. He tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up. He saw she was well on her way to being drunk.

"C'mon Vivi, I'm gonna go lay down a little while," he said. She smiled at him.

"Okay, have a good nap," she said sweetly and took another big gulp of her wine. He frowned.

"Naw, c'mon with me," and he pulled her up to her feet as she staggered a bit.

"Why? I'm having fun," she pouted.

Daryl leaned over and whispered in her ear. "C'mon with me, girl. You're gonna be sick if ya keep this up," and he pulled her along with him toward the den they had stayed in. Vivienne tried to pull her hand from his and instead stumbled and fell against his chest. Trying to keep her from falling down completely, Daryl tried to grab her arm and instead his hand landed on her breast. Vivienne gasped and Daryl turned red. Maggie saw and wolf whistled.

"Oh I see what ya mean by resting Daryl!" she cat called. The other women laughed and Daryl turned even more red. He snatched his hand back and yanked Vivienne toward the room again. The sound of laughter followed them all the way to the den. Daryl pulled Vivienne into the room and slammed the door behind him. Great. Now he'd never get any rest after touching her like that. He shifted uncomfortably and watched Vivienne head to the bathroom, then heard her vomit. He headed to the bathroom and held her hair back as she retched again. She sat back on her heels and sniffed. He wet a washcloth and dabbed at her upturned face.

"I don't ever throw up," she mumbled sadly. He smirked.

"Well, ya haven't really eaten much all day and yer still excited bout all that shoppin' ya did," he murmured as he helped her to stand. "C'mon and lay down with me and you'll feel better," and he led her to the sofa bed where she plopped down and lay back, groaning. He smirked again and lay down beside her and held his arm out for her to lay by him. "Well at least I know yer a cheap drunk," he mumbled and Vivienne slapped at his chest. "Easy now, try to stay still so I can rest some," he grumbled, but he was smiling. Vivienne rolled around a bit and then fell silent. He listened to her breathe and felt relief that she'd agreed to come with him instead of arguing about it. He closed his eyes and tried to rest a little before the night watch.

Daryl woke to the sound of knocking. "Yeah," he called drowsily. He felt like a truck had run over him. He had never needed much sleep, but the last couple of days he had felt exhausted. Course, getting shot and losing some blood probably hadn't helped him any. He sighed and rubbed his face tiredly.

"Hey we fixed dinner and thought you two might like some," Patricia called through the door.

"Kay, we'll be out in a minute," Daryl called back. He looked over at Vivienne asleep on her stomach, the pillow pulled over her head. He nudged her and she moaned. "Hey girl, c'mon and get something to eat," he whispered and shook her slightly.

"No," she mumbled. He lay down beside her and rubbed her back in circles, pushing the pillow off her head.

"Yer head hurt?" he whispered. She mumbled something unintelligible. "Well, ya need to drink some water and eat somethin' or ya'll feel a lot worse in a while." He continued to rub her back gently. He had always resented Merle slamming pots around or kicking his bed when he'd been out drinking and was trying to sleep it off. That was another reason he'd for all intents and purposes quit drinking. He had gotten beyond tired of being in bar fights and of Merle aggravating him the next morning. So he definitely wasn't going to be mean to Vivienne if her head hurt or she felt sick. He'd felt that way too many times himself and knew it was no fun.

Vivienne rolled over on to her back and groaned. "I don't ever get sick," she said pitifully. Daryl brushed her hair out of her face.

"Well, like I said ya ain't really ate much taday. C'mon and we'll grab something and eat it back here and ya can rest," and he stood up from the bed. He held his hand out to her and she took it and let him pull her off the bed.

She looked up at him sadly. "You're so nice," she whispered.

Daryl smirked, "Not really, but glad ya think so," he mumbled and pulled her along with him toward the kitchen.

The rest of their group was in the dining room and the main room eating. Daryl looked at the stove and raised an eyebrow to Andrea, who was filling a bowl.

"It's rice and vegetables," she answered. Vivienne wrinkled her nose and headed to the pantry, pulling out her peanut butter and jelly again. She reached for a bowl and began to measure out the two items and began to mix them together.

"Ya don't like rice, or yer afraid it's poisoned?" he teased. She shot him a look and stuck the spoon into her mouth greedily.

"Don't like white rice, just the fried kind like at the Chinese," she mumbled around the spoon.

He shook his head. "Better hope we don't run out of peanut butter or ya'll starve," he teased. She rolled her eyes at him. "Grab something to drink and we'll go back to the room," he continued and watched as she grabbed two bottles of water and her bowl and followed him back to the den.

They settled on the bed. Daryl had lit some candles before they left the room so they'd have some light. He wasn't going to complain about the lack of electricity when they had flush toilets and running water for showers. He actually liked the candlelight better. He'd been used to it growing up, since his parents were always late on their bills and at least once every couple of months their lights or water would be shut off until his parents could pay the bill.

They ate in silence, Daryl watching her from the corner of his eye. Vivienne looked at him. "Tell me a story," she mumbled around another spoonful of peanut butter.

"A story?" he asked, confused.

She nodded. "Yeah, like your favorite birthday present, or your best Christmas. You know," and she took a swig of her water.

Daryl shifted uncomfortably. "Well, um…I didn't grow up like ya. Ain't got any good stories ta tell ya," he mumbled and looked everywhere but at Vivienne.

Vivienne frowned. "Really? Did your parents go to one of those churches that didn't believe in celebrating Christmas or something?"

Daryl shook his head, glad for the candlelight to hide his face which he knew was beet red by now. "Um, no." He cleared his throat. "Well, my family was poor. Didn't have nothin'" he explained.

Vivienne frowned again. "Well didn't you get presents from the Salvation Army or one of those places? We used to always have the toy drives at school and there'd always be food drives with the trucks everywhere." She continued to gaze at him, confusion evident on her face. She had never known anyone who hadn't ever gotten a present from Santa or their parents or someone.

Daryl cleared his throat again. "No. Some poor people don't even get that shit," he growled. She looked at him in surprise.

"No shit?" she asked softly. He nodded, too embarrassed to reply. He wasn't about to tell her about his dad's drunken rages, the beatings, or his mom burning up the house up with her in it, passed out while smoking. She was from such a completely different world than him. Neither one of them could ever imagine what the other one's life had been like before. And he didn't want her to know, didn't want her disgust or pity for that matter.

"Well," Vivienne said, thinking about what he'd said, "that just fucking sucks." He snorted in surprise.

"Well, yeah, it did," he agreed.

"You must really think I'm an idiot," she said. It was his turn to look at her in surprise.

"Why do ya think that?" he blurted out.

"Well, I should know about people not having stuff. And I don't. I mean, whenever they would talk about kids being hungry, or not having a home or that stuff I just automatically thought of people in India or China or some place far away. I never even thought people here lived with nothing." She tapped her spoon against her mouth. "It's like even though we grew up in the same country we might as well have lived in different continents."

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, yer right bout that." Vivienne leaned against his side.

"I'm glad shit hit the fan," she whispered.

Daryl started. "Why would ya say that?" he asked her incredulously.

"Because the world sucked. For no reason. Maybe the virus was like Noah's flood or something. All the bad stuff got washed away. Maybe the virus is taking care of all the assholes in the world," she whispered.

Daryl smirked. "I never know what's gonna come out of yer mouth. But ya certainly ain't never boring," he mumbled. Vivienne nodded sleepily. "Lay down and I'll keep watch." He took the bowl from her hands and set it on a sidetable with his own and placed her bottle of water on the table as well. Vivienne sighed and slid down and rolled to her side, her back to him. Without thinking about what he was doing, Daryl began to rub her back softly-refusing to acknowledge the fact that this soothed him just as much as it did her.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

A month had gone by. The men in the group had taken turns exploring the resort, widening their perimeter each time they went out. The women and kids had settled into a routine of cooking, cleaning and taking the kids to the lake. The group of cabins they were in backed up to the lake and it was a short stroll down the lawn to the water's edge. There was a dock, and the men had seen from the brochure there were boathouses scattered around the lake with pontoon boats and motor boats they could use to explore the lake and the other cabins scattered around it.

Vivienne had brought bathing suits along with the other clothes she'd taken from the shops and by the second week could be found each day lying on the lawn in the sun in one of the many suits she had confiscated for herself. She had found lawn chairs and lounge chairs in an outbuilding and dragged some out onto the sandy area of the lake. She'd coaxed Glen into taking she and Maggie and Beth along with Tdog back to the main building so they could get items for swimming-sunblock, sunglasses, hats, towels. She and Maggie had gotten into the habit of wheedling Glen whenever they decided they needed something. He caved quickly if it was Maggie asking, and it was usually Vivienne who had the idea and urged Maggie to ask Glen. And she knew most of the time Glen didn't really mind doing what Maggie asked.

While Vivienne played and sunned herself with Maggie, Beth and Amy, Andrea had convinced the men to let her go on the runs to see if there were other survivors on the property. Andrea usually went with Tdog, Martinez and Morales. Rick, Daryl, Glen and Jimmy went on runs together. Otis was in charge of keeping an eye on things at the cabin if both groups happened to be out at the same time. Jacqui, Carol, Lori and Miranda were taking lessons in shooting from Otis and the other men when they were available. Patricia was in charge of the house food supplies and kept a running list of what they needed to look for on runs. Carl and Sophia along with the Morales children spent most of their day swimming under the watchful eyes of Vivienne's little group as well as helping with the berry picking some days.

Daryl and Otis had spent some time in the woods on the property and by looking at the brochures had seen the resort had advertised hunting for boar, deer, bear, turkey, pheasant, dove, duck, not to mention trout, bass, and crappie fishing in the lake. The resort had garden areas wherein grew strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, raspberries and black cherries as well as fruit bearing trees such as peach, pear, fig and muscadine and scuppernong grapes. There was also a grove of pecan trees. The men had discussed what they would need for food for the group and Patricia and Miranda had knew how to can and preserve and she and Miranda and Carol had made plans for doing so to lay in a store of food for the winter.

The men had scavenged and rummaged at some of the cabins they'd come across as well as at the country club and brought back smokers and grills both charcoal and gas and had gotten in the habit of grilling most evenings enough food for that night and the next day until the evening when they'd cook again.

Everyone had settled into a routine and as the days went by with no sign of survivors or herds of walkers they began to feel that this would be the place they would stay as it felt safe. The men had encountered walkers while out exploring the resort, but never any large groups. Apparently the resort had had a skeleton crew while it was the off season, so the walkers they encountered looked like they had been maintenance staff that had remained at the resort.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

One afternoon as Vivienne was lying on her lounger there was a commotion as Rick and Daryl, Glen and Jimmy returned from a run looking for survivors. She sat up and looked back toward the cabin to see they had a group of strangers with them. Maggie and Beth got up and went over to see who the new people were. Vivienne hesitated and then followed them, leaving Amy to keep an eye on the kids. As she got nearer, she started at hearing one of the voices. She broke into a trot and stopped a few feet away from the men and the new group. There were four women and six men, most looked to be around her age. Her eyes were drawn to a young man about her age, tall and thin, curly blonde hair dressed neatly. She walked closer and stared. The man looked up and caught her eye and broke into a wide smile.

"Vivienne!" he yelled and opened his arms and she ran to him and flung herself at him. He wrapped her in a tight embrace and began to shower her with kisses. Vivienne burst into tears and the young man looked rather teary eyed himself. They stood together, murmuring to each other while Vivienne sobbed. Daryl shifted irritably and glared at the scene. Maggie and Beth watched open mouthed and then looked over at Daryl. The other people in the boy's group looked equally mystified.

At last, seeing the stares from everyone around them, the young man cleared his throat and smiled up at them. "I'm Paine Haverston. Vivienne and I were in classes together at college our freshman year and then shared an apartment with some other friends our sophomore and junior years," he explained.

Vivienne broke her embrace with Paine and wiped at her face and smiled at him.

"And then this naughty girl got her own place and disappeared for all intents and purposes," he continued teasingly. Vivienne laughed. Daryl frowned-that would've been about the time she had started seeing Graham.

One of the girls in the group smirked. "Oh yes, I remember hearing about Vivi dropping out of everything. Rumor was she was seeing one of the teachers at the college." Daryl saw Vivienne blush and flinch. Paine glared at the girl that had spoken. Seeing Vivienne hesitate, growing more flustered, Daryl cleared his throat and stepped forward to pull Vivienne toward him protectively.

"Don't know 'bout all that. Vivienne's been seein' me since last summer," he mumbled and felt Vivienne relax against him and squeeze his arm gratefully.

The same girl, a striking blonde who looked just like the snotty girls Daryl used to see around town rolled her eyes. "Right, like she'd ever be seen in public with you. Who are you, some random guy she latched onto when the shit hit the fan?" Maggie and Beth gasped and Paine swore. Daryl tightened his hold on Vivienne to prevent her from jumping on the girl.

"I owned the garage she had her car serviced at," Daryl snapped. "And if any of us looks raggedy it's cuz we've been hunting and patrolling to keep ourselves safe. Hell you idiots were wandering around here with no idea of where you were going or much in the way of protecting yourself." Vivienne could feel the tension in his body as his anger flared.

"Shut the fuck up Ava," Paine exclaimed. "You never liked Vivienne and you're probably the one who started the rumors," he continued. He crossed over to Daryl and Vivienne and held out a hand. "I'm just glad Vivienne had someone to take care of her and make sure she was safe. I'm glad to meet you," and he paused. Ava rolled her eyes and tossed her hair. Maggie and Beth's eyes were round as saucers at the scene.

Daryl reluctantly gripped Paine's hand and nodded. "Daryl Dixon. Nice ta meet ya," he grumbled and Paine smiled again at both Vivienne and Daryl.

Paine turned and began to introduce the rest of his group to Rick's group-there was the bitch Ava, Chelsea and her boyfriend Wesley, Brooke and her boyfriend Pierce, Aaron and his boyfriend Eric (Daryl had to clamp his mouth shut at this, and was grateful Merle was nowhere around), and Caroline and her cousin Sebastian. Paine explained that they'd all been at college taking finals and getting ready to graduate except for Aaron and Eric. They had met them on the road to the resort.

Paine explained he had been to the resort a couple of times to ski with Vivienne and another group of friends and had the resort to his group as a possible safe place to wait til things settled. They had arrived last week and had been slowly making their way around the lake looking for other survivors. They had a few weapons, but nothing like they needed. It had taken them over a month to get to the resort because they'd made detours to their family homes or friends looking for survivors and at last had realized the majority of people they had known were gone.

Rick cleared his throat. "Where ya been stayin' this past week?" he asked politely.

A handsome, muscular, dark haired young man who had been introduced as Sebastian spoke up. "We've been staying a different place each night once we made sure it was safe. We haven't really decided to settle anywhere yet, we're still looking around."

Rick nodded. "Well you're welcome to join us here if you'd like. Right now we're all in the main house, but there's plenty of cabins adjoining the main one for you all to stay in." Sebastian and Paine nodded thoughtfully. "Do you have any belongings you need to get?" Rick asked.

Pierce and Wesley shook their heads. "We have everything packed in the SUV and the truck we were driving," Wesley said. Paine looked around at his group and shrugged.

"What do you guys think? There's safety in numbers and I know I'd feel better joining these people than continuing on ourselves," Paine said.

Ava glared at Paine and then Vivienne. "That's just because Vivienne's with them," she started to say but Brooke and Caroline hushed her angrily.

Paine looked at his group again and one by one they each nodded in agreement to joining up with Rick and his group. Paine turned back to Rick and smiled. "Looks like your group just got bigger Rick," he said pleasantly and winked over at Vivienne. She giggled and Daryl growled softly. She turned her head to look at him and saw the doubt on his face. While Rick and Paine and Paine's group worked out who would stay where and went to unload their belongings, Vivienne pulled Daryl's face to her and whispered in his ear.

"I lived with Paine and his boyfriend and some other friends," she whispered. Daryl jerked and looked at her and she nodded. He straightened up and looked over at Paine again frowning. Vivienne pulled him down to her again. "Not every gay man swishes around and acts feminine. Paine is one of the most manly men I've ever met-he just happens to prefer boyfriends to girlfriends. But he's the best friend I've ever heard. He knew about Graham. He was the only one." Daryl raised an eyebrow at that and nodded again. Well, if Vivienne had thought that highly of the guy he supposed he could tolerate him being around.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

While the men helped Paine's group get settled, the girls in Paine's group joined Vivienne and her group on the little lake beach and started getting to know each other. Ava hung back, a sullen look on her face. Vivienne ignored her and kept chattering away, glad to see that so far everyone except Ava seemed to take a tentative liking to one another.

At last the girls decided to head to the main house so the new group could be introduced to the rest of Rick's group. Patricia, Miranda and Carol were busy in the kitchen starting dinner, and smiled and nodded hello to the newest members to join them. In the main room the men from Rick's group were getting to know Paine's group. To Daryl's immense relief, Aaron and Sebastian had experience hunting and with guns-Sebastian had hunted deer with a bow so he was admiring Daryl's crossbow and bolts. Wesley and Pierce had never been hunting but were determined to fully participate in anything necessary to keep the group safe.

Paine broke away and sought Vivienne out as she stood on the far side of the room watching Amy, Andrea, Jacqui, Lori, Beth and Maggie set about making Caroline, Brooke, Chelsea and Ava feel welcome. Vivienne looked up to see Paine staring at her and nodded and led him out onto the patio. She lit a cigarette and Paine reached for it. She smiled and lit another and they smoked in comfortable silence for a minute.

"I'm glad to see you, Vivi," Paine said softly, smiling at her. Vivienne nodded.

"I'm glad to see you too, Paine," she murmured. He held out his hand and she clasped it tightly, and leaned against him.

"So," Paine breathed. "How did you end things with Graham? And where did you meet Mr. Ruggedly Handsome in there?" Vivienne giggled and then sighed.

"When I went to Graham's that night….he'd killed himself," she said softly. Paine shook his head and sighed. "It was awful, Paine. Just horrible." She paused and he waited patiently for her to continue. "Daryl lived in an apartment in the same complex and I'd talked to him a few times and so I just pounded on his door and asked him to help me," she shuddered at the memory. Paine nodded.

"Clever girl," he murmured. "And he looks like he hasn't regretted helping you out," he said.

Vivienne blushed. "We aren't sleeping together," she whispered. Paine looked down at her in disbelief.

"Is he someone I could be interested in then?" and he winked at her. She giggled.

"No, he had a really bad time growing up and life has pretty much shit on him. He's real careful about letting anyone get close to him," and she sighed with frustration, "I mean, I think he trusts me but he said we aren't doing anything until he knows I'm serious about it-that it'll be for keeps." She sighed again.

Paine nodded. "So you're the guy and he's the girl in this scenario?" he asked, thinking.

"Exactly what I thought!" Vivienne blurted out. Paine took a drag on the cigarette and blew smoke rings, thinking.

"Vivi, that's a good thing the way the world is now. A guy like that will keep you safe and take care of you. I know patience isn't your strong suit, but you're going to have to give him his space and let him decide when it's right for him. You have to prove to him you're trustworthy."

He smoked in silence and Vivienne waited for him to continue. Paine had been her confidant and advisor for the last four years, and when she had followed his advise things had gone well. She hadn't followed his advise about Graham and look how that had turned out. Paine was a good judge of character and if he said Daryl would take care of her she believed it.

"Well, before you would always sleep with someone when you wanted to make sure you had his attention, right?" he asked softly, deep in thought. Vivienne nodded. "Well, you already have this man's attention. So you don't have to push things or rush things. Just wait and he'll let you know when the time is right. And when you do get together, let him take the lead-he looks like the kind of man who wants to be in charge, not that that's a bad thing," Paine smiled and winked.

The door to the patio opened and Carol peered out. Vivienne sighed and lit another cigarette and blew the smoke directly at Carol. Paine repressed a smirk-Vivienne had never had many girl friends, most women seemed to get their backs up just by Vivienne's very presence right from the get go. And it looked like she'd made another "friend" here in Rick's group. He lit another cigarette and took a drag, watching Carol and Vivienne with interest.

"Oh, I thought I heard voices out here," Carol simpered. Vivienne smiled tightly and kept smoking.

Paine choked back a snort at the look on both the women's faces. "Um, I'm Paine Haverston ma'am. I know Vivienne from college," he introduced himself with all the manners his parents had pounded into him. Carol blushed and smiled sweetly.

"Well hello young man," she simpered again and Vivienne rolled her eyes. "I'm Carol Peletier." She turned to Vivienne and smirked again. "I think Daryl was looking for you," she said brightly to Vivienne. "Does he know you're out here?"

Vivienne was glad she was smoking, it kept her from slapping Carol. "Well, if he's looking for me then obviously he doesn't know I'm out here," she snapped. "Why don't you run on in there and tell him?" she goaded Carol. Paine had to turn his back to Carol to keep from laughing in her face. Carol slammed the door shut and Vivienne sighed exaggeratedly.

"I see you still know how to make friends," Paine laughed and Vivienne slapped his arm playfully. They started snickering and began to reminisce about some of the shenanigans they had gotten into at college.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Inside, Carol stormed back into the kitchen and began setting plates and silverware out agitatedly. Patricia looked askance at Carol and shrugged in Miranda's direction. Miranda shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest, watching Carol grow more aggravated.

"Carol, dear, what has gotten you upset," Patrician questioned softly. Carol whirled to face the other two women, her face flushed with anger.

"That little…..slut," she spat out. "She's out there hanging all over that young man and doesn't care if Daryl knows or not," she huffed.

Patricia and Miranda raised eyebrows at this. "Well, Carol, I'm still confused," Patricia continued, "but why is that a concern of yours?" Patricia had never liked drama, and had been watching this situation since their group had first come to the farm. She had watched Daryl and Vivienne together and saw there was real love and affection between the two. She'd also seen Carol start looking at Daryl speculatively as soon as Ed had died.

She'd seen women like Carol before-couldn't be by themselves and they'd latch onto a man as soon as his wife had divorced him or died. Those were the type of women that would go to a funeral and start taking casseroles to the widower before the wife was even cold in the ground. Patricia shook her head slightly. Even if there hadn't been any love between Vivienne and Daryl, she doubted Daryl would have looked twice at Carol. He seemed to view her as more of an older sister than a romantic interest. And Carol's constant insults to Vivienne were only making Daryl less fond of her than more so.

Carol had flinched when Patricia spoke and turned even more red. "It's a concern because she is going to hurt him, break his heart," she snapped.

Miranda sighed. She too had seen what Carol had been doing-trying to undermine Vivienne and she had dreaded the day it would all come to a head. Because she firmly believed Carol wouldn't give up going after Daryl unless he got outright rude with her and made it clear in no uncertain terms that he was not interested in her. It was not a good situation. And she blamed Carol for it entirely.

Before Miranda or Patricia could utter another word, Daryl poked his head into the kitchen and looked around. "Y'all seen Vivi?" he mumbled.

Carol rapidly answered, "Yes, she's out on the patio alone with that boy that came with the new group." Daryl nodded and seeing his lack of concern, Carol blurted out, "Daryl, she's out there alone with that boy! She didn't care if you knew it or not!" she exclaimed. Daryl frowned at her in confusion.

"Well, Carol, they were in college tagether. They're friends," he mumbled, looking at her curiously.

"Friends!" Carol exclaimed. "That's probably what she told you, but" and before she could finish Vivienne and Paine appeared in the hall. Daryl nodded at the three women in the kitchen and grabbed Vivienne's hand. Paine looked in the kitchen curiously and then back at Vivienne and Daryl. He caught Daryl's eye and shook his head slightly. Daryl nodded back slightly. Patricia and Miranda saw the exchange and sighed with relief. At least Daryl was aware of what Carol was trying to do. If there was any blowup over this, it wouldn't be from Daryl or Vivienne or Paine.

Daryl and Vivienne and Paine walked back into the main room. "She givin' ya hard time," Daryl whispered to the two. Paine chuckled.

"Nothing we haven't handled before Daryl," he assured Daryl. Daryl raised a brow at Vivienne. Paine saw the look and chuckled again. "Vivi seems to bring out the worst in most women-the ones that have no confidence in themselves anyway. Like Ava apparently, and Carol. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Things have a habit of sorting themselves out eventually," Paine murmured and he excused himself to go talk to Aaron and Eric.

Daryl pulled Vivienne's curls and smirked. "Ya cain't stay outta trouble, can ya?" he teased. Vivienne flicked her finger at his chin and he jerked back out of her reach. "Easy girl, ya don't wanna start nothin' ya cain't finish," he teased. Vivienne tried to pretend to pout, but giggled instead.

"You have to sleep sometime buster," she mock threatened. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him tightly.

"That's what ya think," he whispered in her ear. Vivienne shivered at the feeling of his warm breath on her neck. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her cheek.

Vivienne looked up at him questioningly. "What's gotten into you?" she whispered.

"Well," he whispered back, "if our story is that we been seein' each other since last summer we need to make it believable," he replied and kissed her softly again on her cheek. He held her tight so she couldn't move and bent his mouth to hers, kissing her slowly and softly. His kiss was tentative, searching, exploring the way her lips felt against his. Vivienne felt the blood rush to her face and her knees gave just the slightest. She felt her heart speed up, and breathing grew difficult.

When Daryl broke away, Vivienne looked up at him in surprise, her mouth open just the slightest. "Go clean up, ya got tannin' oil all over ya," he whispered softly in her ear. Vivienne nodded dazedly, and stumbled when he released his hold on her. He smirked and reached out to steady her. She turned her head to look at him as she walked toward the den they had been sharing, then continued to the room.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

SMUT ALERT….so skip over if you blush easily….

Your Body Is A Wonderland by John Mayer

We got the afternoon  
You got this room for two  
One thing I've left to do  
Discover me, discoverin' you, oh

One mile to every inch of  
Your skin like porcelain  
One pair of candy lips and  
Your bubblegum tongue, uh uh uh

And if you want love  
(Then make it)  
Swim in a deep sea  
(Of blankets)  
Take all your big plans  
(And break 'em)  
This is bound to be a while

Your body is a wonderland  
Your body is a wonder, I'll use my hands  
Your body is a wonderland

Something 'bout the way  
The hair falls in your face  
I love the shape you take  
When crawlin' towards the pillowcase

You tell me where to go and  
Though I might leave to find it  
I'll never let your head hit the bed  
Without my hand behind it

You want love? We'll make it  
Swim in a deep sea of blankets  
Take all your big plans and break 'em  
This is bound to be a while

Your body is a wonderland  
Your body is a wonder, I'll use my hands  
Your body is a wonderland

Damn baby, you frustrate me  
I know you're mine, all mine, all mine  
But you look so good, it hurts sometimes

Your body is a wonderland  
Your body is a wonder, I'll use my hands  
Your body is a wonderland  
Your body is a wonderland, oh no

Vivienne went into the bathroom and quickly stripped off her suit and turned the water on as hot as she could stand it and hopped in and rapidly scrubbed her hair and skin clean. Hopping out she applied her lotion and powder being careful not to get it everywhere, spritzed on one of the bottles she had cluttering up the sink counter and scrubbed her teeth rapidly. She rinsed and spit and thought about what she should wear. She had grabbed a teddy the last time they'd gone to the shops and she'd hidden it, saving if for just such an occasion. She slipped it on, it was red and left very little to the imagination. Should she lounge on the bed? Sit on the couch? She was so nervous she feared she would vomit if she had to wait for him too long.

She was just about to peek out the door when Daryl entered the room. She'd lit some candles and even though the room was mainly in shadow he could see she'd put something little and frilly on. Daryl crossed slowly to her and pulled her into his arms gently. He kissed her hair and kissing her softly moved down to her neck. Vivienne sighed and her hands clutched his arms as if he was the only thing keeping her upright. Daryl lifted her damp curls off her neck and continued to kiss her softly and slowly, tracing his way down to the swell of her breasts.

He suddenly picked her up and laid her gently on the bed. Looking steadily at her he slowly stripped himself of his shirt, boots, socks, camo pants and then watching her closely he pulled off the boxers. Her eyes widened a bit at finally seeing Daryl completely naked. Her throat went dry and she looked up at him, feeling waves of heat and cold sweep over her. Daryl lay beside her carefully, his eyes wandering her body from breasts to hips and then he reached over and ripped the teddy in half, exposing her to his view. Vivienne gulped dryly and reached her hand out to touch his chest. He caught her wrist in his hand and shook his head.

He dropped her hand by her side and turning onto his side he began to run his right hand slowly over her skin, tracing a path from her neck to her collarbone, over the swell of her breasts- Vivienne drew a sharp breath as he circled around her nipple but never touched it. He continued to run his finger down her abdomen to her pelvis and stopped. She gave a little sigh of impatience and he smirked. He ran his hand up and down her hip and she moved her legs apart slightly, watching his face breathlessly. She had never felt so completely and utterly under someone's spell as she felt now.

Vivienne watched Daryl's face as he continued to run his hand over her skin ever so lightly. She shivered and felt her teeth chatter as if she were outside on a cold day. Daryl bent his mouth to her neck and slowly, softly ran his tongue down her neck to the swell of her breasts and then traced a circle around her nipple. She gasped again and arched her back to him.

He crouched over her now, one hand cupping her breast and teasing and kneading while his other cupped the other breast and he ran his tongue lightly and teasingly over and around her nipple. Vivienne gasped and writhed on the bed, her hands tightly gripping the sheet beneath her. Daryl continued to suck and tease and stroke her nipples until Vivienne arched up and gasped louder. She slowly relaxed and blew out a breath. Her face and chest were flushed.

Daryl lay down beside her and gently ran his hand over her cheek. "Did you come?" he whispered softly.

"Mmmmm, yes," she murmured. She looked at him and blushed more.

Daryl ran his fingers through her hair and thought. Most of his previous encounters had been after the bars had closed and Merle had bullied him into hooking up with some chick so Merle could hook up with her friend-there had been no interest on his part in the woman other than relieving his blue balls. It was usually months between these hookups, and when Merle was in jail he stayed away from any of that. The last time he had been with a woman this time had been well before Merle had gone to jail. Probably almost two years. The whole reason he'd waited to try with Vivienne was his fear of looking foolish and inexperienced.

Vivienne laid her hand on his chest. "You surprised me. That doesn't usually happen. But when you touch me…..I don't know. I feel like I'm something really special when you touch me." Daryl leaned over and kissed her softly on her mouth.

"That's because you are." he murmured softly against her lips. "Now, tell me what you want me to do next. What do you like?"

And with Vivienne's whispered instructions and helpful hints and Daryl's slow tour of her body and all the places that felt good when he touched or kissed them, they spent the night learning all about their own and each other's bodies in ways they'd never done with other partners.


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

_At times I almost dream I too have spent a life the sages' way, And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance I perished in an arrogant self-reliance Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer For one more chance went up so earnest, so Instinct with better light let in by death, That life was blotted out—not so completely But scattered wrecks enough of it remain, Dim memories, as now, when once more seems The goal in sight again._

_Paracelsus by Robert Browning_

_Inspired by the X Files season four, episode five, _The Field Where I Died.

He was standing by a lake. Watching a girl walk toward him. She was a tiny thing, probably barely came to his chest. Her hair was a mass of coppery curls falling in her face and down around her shoulders and she had a dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks. When she'd looked at him he'd seen her eyes were a deep green-they reminded him of the forest pools in the hills where he lived. Her mouth though-she had a mouth that looked like it was begging to be kissed.

As he watched her, she came to him and threw her arms around his neck. "We don't have much time now, before ya leave Rafe." He felt her lips against his, the air was filled with the scent of lavender-the scent he always associated with her. He held her close, reveling in the feel of her body pressed to his. At the same time he felt anxious, knew how important it was that they spend this time together before he went away. Because he might not ever come back. No one knew how long the war would last, although he'd heard men bragging that it would be over quickly. They would send the…

Daryl jerked awake, and looked about him in confusion. It was dark in the room, the candles had guttered out at some point. He could feel Vivienne beside him, heard her even breathing which meant she was still asleep. He rubbed his hands over his face and sat up carefully, so as not to wake her. He eased out of bed and felt for his pants he'd left on the floor. He pulled them on, pulled on his tshirt and stepped outside onto the patio to smoke.

He sighed, leaning against the brick wall enclosing the patio. He'd been having the same damn dream for weeks now. It had started a few nights after the first time he'd slept with Vivienne. Everything between them was great-better than he'd ever hoped for. The new group and his group had integrated well. They had all decided to move to another section of the lake, an area even more secluded than where they'd been staying.

The cabins were not quite as ornate or elaborate as where they'd first stayed, but they had been closer together and there were enough cabins that everyone could break off and have a bit more privacy. This area also had an old stone wall around it, which they had fortified and patrolled and this made all of them feel much safer than they had previously. Instead of being right on the lake, this group of cabins was on a sort of little inlet, which made it easier for them to defend their area if there was any attack from the lake.

Daryl and Vivienne had moved into the smallest cabin situated in a small stand of trees closer to the water. It had just one bedroom, and was built much simpler and plainer than the other cabins. He and Vivienne had been spending most of their nights alone together in the cabin instead of with the others and he'd heard the teasing from the others that he and Vivienne were in the honeymooner's cabin.

He still spent his days with the other men, hunting and patrolling and going on runs. He had encouraged Vivienne to spend some time with Patricia and the other women to learn basic cooking and to help out with the canning, etc. He had tried to be diplomatic when making these suggestions-he realized she was young and unused to doing anything really for herself or anyone else. But the world was different now, and everyone had to pull their own weight. After some tears and pouting, Vivienne had seen his point and with his emphasis that he wasn't picking on her she had admitted she did in fact need to start pulling her own weight.

There was still friction between Vivienne and Carol, but things were less fraught now that he and Vivienne were in a cabin to themselves.

Daryl sighed. Life was good now, as good as he could expect it to be in a world gone to hell. He had friends-for the first time in his life he had real friends he could count on to have his back. He had the love of a beautiful and kind woman-something he'd never thought he would ever have. And there was the absence that at any moment his brother would call to say he'd been arrested or that he needed to be picked up from jail. But these damn dreams-they made him feel unsettled, anxious, uneasy and sad. He invariably woke from these dreams feeling inconsolable, and the feeling of melancholy would linger throughout the day.

He had no idea who the woman in the dream was-he'd never seen anyone like her in his life, although she bore a passing resemblance to Vivienne. But this woman always called him Rafe, and he had never known a Rafe as a friend or relative or even through any of the odd jobs he'd ever held.

He looked up to see Vivienne standing in the doorway, and an overwhelming urge to weep swept over him. Looking at her he felt his heart was breaking. He must have made some noise, because Vivienne rushed to him and knelt beside him.

"What is it? What's wrong Daryl?" she whispered anxiously to him. She placed her hand on his cheek and felt it was moist from tears.

Daryl shook his head, unable to describe the feeling of dread that seemed to smother him.

"Come back inside and lay down with me. You're worrying me, Daryl," she murmured and he stood and followed her back into the cabin. Silently he shed his clothes and slid into bed beside her. He pulled her close to him, her back to his chest and wrapped his arms about her.

Vivienne could feel a slight trembling in his body and frowned. He had never been one to sleep well, but since they had moved to this cabin he had become more restless when he slept, often calling out as he dreamt. She hadn't ever heard him clearly enough to understand what he was saying, but he often sounded as if his heart were breaking. She had racked her brain to think of some way to help him but could think of nothing. She had asked him if he was dreaming of his parents, or his brother and he had shaken his head but hadn't volunteered any information of his own.

As his trembling slowly subsided, Vivienne fell back to sleep worrying about what was troubling Daryl and how she could help.


	27. Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Vivienne stood in the shallow water of the inlet watching Daryl and Rick and some of the other men head out toward the lake to fish and explore. The days were still warm, but the nights were getting cooler and they were trying to lay in a supply of dried foods for the winter.

As Vivienne watched the boats head out, she saw Daryl turn back to look at her and as she raised her hand to wave to him, she felt a wave of dizziness overtake her. She felt light headed and breathless and swayed a bit before she righted herself. She had an overwhelming feeling she'd done this before- which obviously she had seen Daryl off before, but something about today was different. The slant of the light, his expression as he waved to her-something. She choked back a sudden and unexpected sob and walked unsteadily back toward their cabin.

Sitting on the little bench Daryl had placed on their tiny porch, she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes trying to draw a calming breath. What on earth was the matter with her? He was just going fishing. There were other men with him. No reason on earth to worry. So why did she feel so jumpy?

Vivienne stood up, too fidgety to stay still. She wandered over to the cabin where Patricia and Otis lived with Beth and Jimmy. Knocking on the door, she heard Patricia call out and she entered the living area where she saw Beth snapping green beans for tonight's dinner. Jimmy had gone off with Daryl to fish.

Patricia looked up from where she was straightening up the kitchen. "Well, hello Vivienne! I was just thinking about you," and she set the dish towel down and came over to the doorway. "Here, sit down with me in the dining room. You look a bit peaked. Are you feeling alright dear?" And Patricia urged Vivienne to sit down and bustled to get her a glass of tea.

Vivienne accepted it gratefully, realizing suddenly that her throat was parched. She downed half the glass in one gulp and set it back on the table. Patricia looked with concern at Vivienne.

"What is it dear?" And Patricia patted Vivienne's hand softly. Patricia had grown very fond of Vivienne over time, and tended to favor her after Maggie and Beth of course. She had been happy to teach Vivienne the basics of cooking and general housework after Daryl had approached her to ask if she could take Vivienne under her wing. She had readily agreed, and had come to enjoy having Vivienne around the home-Maggie, Beth and Vivienne got along well and it made the house feel more like home with the three girls there together.

Vivienne shook her head, frowning. "I don't know," she hesitated. Seeing Patricia's kind face she felt she could trust Patricia to think of a solution to her problem. "Since we moved into our cabin, Daryl has been having bad dreams. He's restless and wakes up a lot and seems to be having bad dreams. He's talking in his sleep sometimes, but I can't quite understand what he's saying." She paused again. "This morning I found him out on the patio and when he looked at me-I don't know. The look on his face was so sad, and he…he started to cry," she said softly.

Patricia frowned. That certainly didn't sound like Daryl-he was a man who kept his thoughts and feelings well hidden, although he was a bit more demonstrative as he'd gotten more comfortable and sure of himself with Vivienne. "He hasn't told you anything?" Patricia prompted.

"No," Vivienne shook her head again. "He doesn't seem to remember the dreams, but they seem to leave him upset and anxious."

Patricia nodded thoughtfully. "Well, it could just be that everything that's happened to all of us is finally catching up to him. Now that his head knows that he's safe, maybe emotionally it's taking him some time to catch up to that."

Vivienne nodded thoughtfully. "What can I do?"

Patricia laid her hands gently on Vivienne's hands that were twisting the napkin into shreds.

"Well, Otis was in Vietnam. He had terrible nightmares for years-he'll have one occasionally even now, they're more often since the virus hit. Anyway, we went to a counselor and he suggested that when Otis was having the nightmare I should gently question him or try to calm him by talking to him softly. Reassuring him that all was alright, that I was with him, that he was safe. It took a good long time, but slowly but surely we were able to work through his nightmares and eventually they came a lot less frequently and weren't nearly as severe as they had been."

Vivienne nodded, thinking this over. She hadn't really thought of whether or not Daryl felt safe-she knew she did because he was with her. But he had no one to keep him safe save himself. Maybe they should move in with some of the others in the group so he wouldn't feel isolated in their cabin with her. Paine and Sebastian, Aron and Eric all shared a house together but it had four bedrooms. She suspected that although Sebastian and Paine slept in separate rooms, they more often than not spent the night together. Even so, there was still a spare room. Even if Daryl didn't want to move in with them, it might ease his anxiety if the nights he was on watch she stayed at Paine's house so she wouldn't be alone.

"Thanks Patricia. You've given me an idea and I think this will help us," and Vivienne stood to leave.

Patricia nodded and waved Vivienne off as she left and headed toward Paine's house.


	28. Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Vivienne knocked and entered Paine's house. She found Sebastian and Paine in the living room reading.

"Vivienne! What a nice surprise!" Paine called out and waved her into the living room. Sebastian looked up and smiled at Vivienne. He was quieter than Paine, but Vivienne thought they complemented each other well. They were both intelligent and witty, and never refused to pitch in and lend a hand be it fishing, hunting, cooking, working in the collective garden-anything. They were both easy going and perpetually in a wonderful mood.

Vivienne smiled and entered to sit across from the two in a large overstuffed chair with an equally overstuffed ottoman.

"How are you today Vivi?" Sebastian asked quietly. Vivienne privately thought that if Paine hadn't been here and she'd never met Daryl she would have been joined at Sebastian's hip-he like Paine was a great listener and ever so patient with anyone who confided in him. She'd noticed the majority of the women of their groups brought their problems to Paine and Sebastian. They should have been paid for all the therapy sessions they'd held with the various women, Vivienne thought ruefully.

"I'd like to ask you a favor. Now, I haven't said anything to Daryl yet so I don't know if he'll be willing to do this-but I wanted to clear it with you two first," she began.

Sebastian and Paine looked at each other and then back at Vivienne. "Of course," they said together.

Vivienne quickly explained the conversation she'd had with Patricia and her thought about both she and Daryl staying with them or just her when he was on watch.

Sebastian and Paine nodded quickly. "Of course, Vivienne," Paine exclaimed. "That's not a problem at all. We have plenty of room, and to tell the truth I've been a bit concerned about the two of you staying alone. I mean the cabin is perfectly safe, but everyone else here is in groups and you two have been all by yourself. It'll be good for Daryl to know you're safe with us when he's on watch, and if he decides to stay here the nights he's not on watch he'll feel better knowing he's not the only one keeping you safe." Sebastian nodded in agreement.

"Okay, then. Now I just have to get him to agree to it," Vivienne answered.

"Just tell him you'd feel better staying here when he's on watch and tell him when two of us are on watch we'd feel better with the two of you here." Sebastian suggested.

Vivienne nodded, thinking. "Sounds good," she said, feeling much better than she had earlier.

"Well, sit with us a while and tell us what you've been learning from Patricia," Paine coaxed and Vivienne began to describe her cooking triumphs and disasters.


	29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

The sun was much lower in the sky when the men returned in triumph with more than enough fish to have a feast tonight and then dry and store some for the coming winter. Vivienne met Daryl at the dock and walked back to their cabin with him, listening to him describe the group's adventures out on the lake. Glancing at him, Vivienne was relieved to see him in a much better mood than when he'd left that morning. Whatever it had been troubling him had been forgotten hopefully.

As she waited on Daryl to clean up and change clothes so they could go help out with the fish fry on the little beach she started to page through a book they had found one day scavenging in the little town not far from the resort. They had raided the little library there, since any real reading material was scarce in the cabins. They had brought back a wide assortment of books and kept them in Rick's cabin because it actually had shelves built into the walls for books and knick knacks.

Vivienne had picked up some books about the history of the area for Daryl to read but had found herself fascinated with the information she'd discovered in them. The book she was reading now had information regarding the area's history during the Civil War period. She had never been a fan of history, or of any subject really in school. And due to growing up in the South and the particular town she'd lived in she'd been subjected to hours and hours of class talks about the Civil War and it's repercussions after the South's defeat.

In school, any discussion about the war had bored her to tears. But for some reason, now that she didn't have to write papers or take tests she enjoyed reading the very books she'd detested. She found herself reading the books in literature classes she'd paid others to write papers for her and found them surprisingly interesting.

She skimmed through the pages to the section of pictures of local soldiers who'd gone off to fight. As she flipped idly through the pictures, she faltered and stopped on one page in particular. The man in the picture looked very young, early twenties if that. He was dressed in the homespun uniform of the hill regiments. His cap was held to his side in one hand revealing hair that looked to be a light color and unkempt. His eyes seemed to be staring right back at her. He looked painfully thin but like he could hold his own in a fight. And although in the majority of the pictures from that era nobody smiled, this young man seemed to have the slightest of smirks playing about his lips. All in all he had a rather reckless look about him, as if he had no anxiety or worry about marching off to war.

Vivienne felt mesmerized by the picture of the boy, and something tugged at her memory like a word that is right on the tip of your tongue but you can't quite spit it out. Daryl came out and smirked at her and Vivienne again felt that sense of déjà vu and felt light headed and slightly breathless.

Daryl frowned as he saw the blood drain from Vivienne's face when she looked up at him, her eyes faintly glassy. He strode over to the bed and sank down beside her. "Vivienne, are you alright?" he asked anxiously, his hands clasping both hers. They were icy to his touch.

Vivienne looked up at him, a bewildered look on her face. She blinked and shook her head slightly. "Yes, I….um, yes," she answered faintly.

Daryl rubbed her small hands briskly over his to warm them and glanced about for a blanket. It wasn't really cold in the room, but he wanted to wrap her up in something because she felt cold to the touch. His eyes fell on the book she'd been flipping through and he felt his breath go out of him as his gaze fell on the picture she'd been looking at.

"What is that?" and he nodded toward the book.

Vivienne sighed restively and pulled her hands from his to show him the book. "It's a book about the history around here during the Civil War," and her words faltered at seeing the look on Daryl's face. She felt goosebumps break out on her flesh and saw that he had experienced the same shiver she had.

Daryl looked at the picture of the young man, running his finger over it slowly. "This picture….this man….seems familiar somehow," he mumbled.

Vivienne nodded. "Yes, it did to me too," she whispered.

"What's his name?" Daryl continued to stare at the picture.

"I don't know," she answered, "some of the pictures have the soldier's names, some don't. See if it says anything there in the paragraph." She watched as Daryl looked down the page to the paragraph. His eyes widened and he gripped the book.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Vivienne whispered anxiously.

"His name. It's the name I hear in my dream," he whispered hoarsely. Vivienne frowned.

"Your dream? The one that keeps waking you up?" She watched as he put the book down beside her and looked at it as if it were a snake.

"Yeah. Now that I see his name, I remember part of the dream," Daryl explained, still keeping a wary eye on the book. "In the dream some woman who looks a little like you is walking toward me and telling me we don't have much time together before I leave. Something about a war and she calls me Rafe." He shook his head and drew an unsteady breath. "And every time I have that dream I wake up feeling so …..I feel like my heart is breaking. Just an overwhelming sadness-I've never felt that awful in my whole life. Not even when my ma died." Daryl shook his head as if to clear it.

Vivienne peered at him intently. "Well, today when you were leaving in the boat to go fishing I had the weirdest feeling that I'd watched you leave before-which of course I have-but it was different. I felt like I wasn't sure if you'd be back. And I felt like I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was about to just bawl my eyes out I felt so…I felt so full of despair." Vivienne stared quietly at Daryl and he returned a gaze equally intense.

"Daryl, tonight when you have that dream I'm going to try something. I'm going to try to get you to tell me what's going on in the dream. Maybe you'll be able to tell me something that can help us," Vivienne whispered.

Daryl nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. We can try that. If that doesn't work we aren't staying here. I don't believe in ghosts or anything like that," he said as if trying to convince himself, "but I'm not about to keep losing sleep over something I can't fix." Vivienne nodded in agreement.

"C'mon and let's go help with the fish fry or we'll have ta listen to them teasing us again bout our honeymoon cottage," he grumbled and set about getting dressed. Vivienne marked the page in the book and carried it out to the front porch and laid it on the bench out there. When she came back in the room Daryl looked at her curiously.

"What did ya do?" he mumbled.

Vivienne shrugged and blushed. "Well, I just don't want that book in here. I don't know what's going on but I don't want it anywhere near me."

Daryl for once didn't laugh or tease her. He was secretly grateful she'd taken the book outside because he too did not want that book around him. He shivered slightly, feeling like someone had walked across his grave and for once he wished Merle was there to tell him how silly he was being.


	30. Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

Daryl and Vivienne joined the others on the beach for the fish fry and although they talked and laughed with everyone neither could shake the strange feeling they'd had when they'd seen the picture in the book. At certain times when Vivienne looked at Daryl, it felt as though she was seeing him through a prism-sometimes she saw just Daryl, and then it was if there were an overlay of the man she'd seen in the picture fracturing and doubling around Daryl. When this happened she'd feel lightheaded and breathless again.

Paine noticed Vivienne looking oddly at Daryl and her color washing out of her and strolled over to her. "Everything alright Vivi?" he whispered softly to her. Vivienne glanced up and seemed at first not to recognize him. Paine frowned. "Vivienne, are you ill?" He laid his hand on her arm and was shocked at how cold she felt.

Vivienne stared dumbstruck for a minute, then wiped her hand over her face tiredly. "I don't know," she said so faintly he had to strain to hear her. "I want to lie down," and she sank against him. Paine caught her quickly and lifted her up and began to carry her toward his house. He nodded to Sebastian and Sebastian fell into step with him.

"What is it?" Sebastian questioned Paine as they hurried toward the cabin. They heard someone running up to them and stopped to let Daryl catch up to them.

"What happened?" he growled, gazing anxiously at Vivienne's prone form in Paine's arms.

"Let's get her inside and cover her up first, she's freezing," Paine said and the three of them hurried to get Vivienne inside and make her comfortable.

Once they had Vivienne situated on the couch with a blanket over her, Paine looked at Vivienne and then Daryl. He sat on the table by the couch and leaned toward Daryl who was pacing anxiously about the room.

"Okay, now then. What is going on Daryl? And don't tell me nothing. Vivienne was here earlier today and told us you're having trouble sleeping. She's worried about you and asked if the two of you could stay here with us for a bit." Daryl glanced up at Paine and nodded. Paine sat up straighter and looked at Sebastian. That Daryl wasn't arguing or snapping and growling was not a good sign. Something was seriously wrong.

"I've known Vivienne a good long while and she's a pretty tough little cookie. I'm concerned that she's cold as ice and she fainted out there." Paine hesitated. "Is she pregnant?"

Daryl flinched-he had never thought of that possibility. He didn't know what his own problem was, but if Vivienne was pregnant that might explain her dizziness and fainting. And damn his soul for not taking more care of things than he had. The thought of her being pregnant, no doctor, with the world the way it was terrified him. He began to savagely tear at his thumb and pace even more frantically.

"Didn't think of that," he mumbled. Paine sighed and Sebastian shook his head.

"Why don't you ask me?" Vivienne's soft voice startled all of them. They stared and saw she'd awakened and was sitting up a bit, still bundled up in the blanket.

Paine smiled and held Vivienne's hand gently. She was still clammy, but nothing like she had been. "Well okay dear, are you? Pregnant?"

Vivienne shook her head. "No, definitely not. Although I have to admit we have been careless and I was scared there for a day or two," she murmured, avoiding Daryl's gaze.

Daryl rushed to her side and sat beside Paine on the table. "Vivienne, why didn't ya say anything ta me?" he rasped and clutched her other hand tightly.

"Well, you seem worried enough with all those bad dreams. I didn't want to say anything unless I was sure. And then I knew I wasn't so it didn't matter." And she blushed furiously as all three men gazed at her in concern.

Sebastian cleared his throat. "May I ask what type of dreams you've been having?"

Daryl turned to Sebastian and blushed a bit his own self. "Just some dream about some woman talking to me –she looks kinda like Vivi."

"And she calls him Rafe. And he always feels sad when he wakes up. And then we found a picture of a Civil War soldier that's name was Rafe and both of us felt like a goose had walked on our graves," Vivienne blurted. And then both Daryl and Vivienne twitched a bit.

Sebastian hummed and began to pace leisurely about the room. Daryl and Vivienne looked questioningly at Paine and he shrugged helplessly.

"Where is the book with the picture in it?" Sebastian asked suddenly.

Daryl and Vivienne looked at each other sheepishly. "I put it on our porch. Neither one of us felt comfortable having it in the house with us," and Vivienne squeezed Daryl's hand.

Paine sat up and looked at the two of them closely. There was something different about them, now that he thought about it. Just what it was, he couldn't put a finger on. But something. Paine had noticed from the first when he had stumbled on their group that Vivienne had seemed much more enamored of Daryl than she had ever previously been with her past lovers. And he had noticed how quickly the bond between them had deepened and become much more serious than he would have imagined.

Daryl was definitely not like any of the men he'd known her to trifle with before. And she was rapidly becoming a more serious, thoughtful, less self involved woman than the girl he'd known. All of which could be attributed to the virus, the aftermath, the struggle to survive and growing up. But Paine didn't think that was all there was to this change in Vivienne. It was a good change, of course, but it was a little too rapid in his opinion.

"Would you mind if I go get it and bring it back here?" Sebastian asked quietly. Paine saw the look of apprehension that passed between the two.

Daryl nodded slowly, reluctant to reveal how shaken he was by this whole thing. "'s fine," he mumbled. Vivienne sat up and he moved to sit beside her on the couch, wrapping his arms around her at the same time keeping her bundled in the blanket. She leaned her head against his chest and sighed tiredly.

"I'll make us some hot tea," Paine said softly, "while you run get the book. I'll rummage about and find something a little stronger for you Daryl," Paine murmured.

Daryl surprised him by shaking his head. "Naw, tea is fine." Vivienne glanced at him in surprise and he shrugged. "Want my mind clear," he mumbled and kissed Vivienne softly on her forehead.

Paine went off to the kitchen and Sebastian headed out the door to retrieve the book.

Carol waylaid Sebastian as he was returning from Daryl and Vivienne's cabin. "What's wrong with Vivienne? It looked like she passed out. Was she drunk?" Carol smirked.

Sebastian sighed. When was Carol going to get it into her thick head that no matter what she didn't stand a chance of ever having Daryl's attention? Her ongoing rude behavior toward Vivienne had shut that possibility down, not that it had ever existed in anyone's mind but Carol's.

Sebastian smirked, an evil thought going through his mind. "Why no Carol, Vivienne is just especially frail these days. Very tired, hungry, emotional. You know how it is," and with that Sebastian proceeded on his way back toward his house, snickering softly at the look that he'd seen on Carol's face.


	31. Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

The four sat around the coffee table, the book in front of them and opened to the picture of the young man named Rafe. Sebastian had studied the picture quietly, glancing now and again up at Daryl. Paine had watched Sebastian curiously, at a loss as to what Sebastian was thinking.

"Did you look through the rest of the book for other pictures or for anything written about this young man?" Sebastian asked quietly, deep in thought.

Vivienne and Daryl glanced at each other and shook their heads. Sebastian nodded, and began flipping through the book slowly, staring closely at each succeeding page. After a few minutes, he stopped and placed a finger by a paragraph and bent closer to read it.

"Mmmmm," he hummed as he read. Paine shifted restlessly in his chair.

"Sebastian, are you going to share with us or do we have to guess," Paine asked irritably. He didn't like mysteries, and didn't like anything that upset his friend Vivienne. He was anxious to have this cleared up so Vivienne could go back to being Vivienne.

Sebastian looked up, a faraway look in his eyes. He thought for a minute, glanced at Daryl and Vivienne and nodded. "Well, it seems that this young man was named Rafe Bedford. He grew up in this area, poor whites that tenant farmed and probably lived off the land hunting and fishing."

Daryl flinched a bit at this. Sounded like him and his family growing up. He waved to Sebastian to continue.

"Seems he fell in love with the daughter of a local doctor that lived in town. Doesn't say how the two met, just that they fell in love and eloped against her family's wishes. They eloped a week or so before Rafe shipped off to fight with his regiment." Sebastian looked up and they all nodded for him to continue. "The story here is that he snuck back to see her a few times and they would meet somewhere around this lake." Vivienne went still at that. Daryl glanced down at her and felt her tremble a bit.

"Okay, well what happened?" Paine asked with exasperation.

Sebastian frowned and sighed. "Apparently the boy died at Gettysburg-or at least he disappeared and was never heard from or seen again. And the girl….Clementine was her name….she was found drowned in the lake by a waterfall the next month. It was suspected she had killed herself." A hush fell over the room. Vivienne started to cry softly and Daryl felt as if his heart was being ripped out of him.

Paine started at the look of naked grief on both their faces. "What does any of this have to do with Daryl and Vivienne?" he demanded of Sebastian.

Sebastian frowned, thinking again. "I have a hunch, but I know you'll say I'm crazy," he began.

Daryl looked up at Sebastian, a haunted look on his face. "I don't care if it's crazy, just tell me. I can't stand feeling like this, can't stand Vivienne feeling like this." He mumbled and pulled Vivienne to him closer, kissing the crown of head.

Sebastian nodded, his mind made up about something. "Do you believe in reincarnation?" he asked Daryl and Vivienne softly.

Daryl frowned. "Ain't that when ya come back as an ant or somethin'?" he grumbled.

Paine snorted and Daryl glared at him.

"No, nothing like that at all," Sebastian said quickly. "Some religions believe your soul returns to live multiple times until you achieve perfection. And your soul is reunited with other souls over and over in different ways. Um, your brother in this life may have been your father or your aunt or your mother or sister in a past life."

Daryl moaned and shook his head. "Ya mean I ain't done with my brother. Even if I don't never see him again this time, I will next time," he gritted out.

Sebastian nodded. "Exactly so. Most of the time your relationships with the other souls change each incarnation. Because part of attaining perfection is attaining a harmonious existence with these other souls. And that involves knowing them in different relationships."

Paine stared at Sebastian incredulously. "You never cease to surprise me," he murmured, a look of approval on his face.

Sebastian grinned back. "I was a business major but philosophy and religion were my minors."

Paine nodded in understanding.

"I've read reams of accounts of folks who remembered details of former lives and their accounts were verified by the families of the deceased. Um, a little boy kept telling his parents his name was such and such, he'd lived in so and so city, had family members named whatever. After a while the parents investigated, took the boy to that village and the boy could name all these people he'd never met and could give a full account of his death. There are thousands of books written on this subject, with hundreds of verified accounts like this," Sebastian continued.

Daryl and Vivienne looked at each other and back at Sebastian.

"So what does this mean for us?" Vivienne asked with a worried look on her face.

Sebastian was silent, thinking. "Well, it may be-if you believe in these things-that Daryl and you were this couple in a former life. And that now that you're back in the area where you'd lived in that former life you're remembering that life together. Some would say it was your fate to meet when you did, and to end up here together. Maybe its fate bringing you together so that this time around you have a happier ending than you did the last time. And of course you may well have been together since that time in different circumstances, but this time you're together as you were then-lovers."

Daryl chewed his thumb in thought while Vivienne watched him. She herself was glad of some explanation-any explanation rather than continuing on clueless and unable to find a solution to their problem.

"How do we stop the dreams? How do we fix this?" Vivienne asked Sebastian, keeping a watchful eye on Daryl.

"Well, I've heard of people being hypnotized and regressed through their past lives, but I have no idea how to do that. And I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it," he said quietly.

Daryl and Vivienne nodded in agreement.

"There may be another way though," Sebastian said. "If we can find out where the spot was that Clementine drowned herself, if we can take you two to that very spot…..it might force….I don't know…a recognition of your waking selves to your past selves and …..maybe a resolution. Maybe a type of integration?" Sebastian nodded to himself, his mind racing to review anything that might help resolve this.

"So, kind of like an exorcism?" Vivienne asked quietly.

Sebastian shook his head. "Not really. Because you're not going to rid yourselves of these two people. Rafe is Daryl, and Clementine is you. We just need them to realize that they are together again in this life and that in this time they have a chance to have a happy ending."

Daryl stopped biting his thumb and cleared his throat. "Okay. When can we do this?"

Vivienne, Sebastian and Paine looked in surprise at him.

"Hey, if y'all had told me a year ago we'd be together surviving after a zombie apocalypse I'd have told y'all yer crazy. But here we are. I ain't rulin' anythin' out from now on. Findin' that place and standin' there cain't do no harm and it's better than me havin' these fuckin' dreams the rest of my damn life," he snapped.

"Well, we can research it tomorrow. Maybe go back to the place you got this book Vivienne and see if we can find anything else about this couple or from that time period. Then we'll know where Clementine died and we can try something to give those parts of your souls some relief," Sebastian suggested.

"For now, though, we're going to go get some rest," Daryl said with a stern look at Vivienne. "I don't like the way yer lookin', still too pale," he murmured against her hair. Vivienne yawned, too tired to argue.

"Come on up and make yourselves at home in our guest room," Paine said standing. "We'll all have a fresh perspective tomorrow morning and maybe some more ideas." And he led Daryl and Vivienne up the stairs while Sebastian sat back and began paging through the book again.


	32. Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

The next morning found the foursome at the library where Vivienne had found the book. They were rummaging around in drawers and books that contained census information looking for any information they could find on Clementine.

Sebastian called out. "Here, this census from 1861-there's a listing of a Clementine Delaney, daughter of a Dr. Joseph Delaney. She was sixteen in 1861." Vivienne, Daryl and Paine crowded around the table where Sebastian had set the book. They followed his finger as he showed them the members of Dr. Delaney's household. "Looks like she had at least two older brothers who had joined the Army." Sebastian read aloud.

"Well, now we know her name," Paine said hopefully.

"Yes, now we can try to find a record of her death. Suicide would have been hushed up back then, but there might be something about her drowning without mention of suicide," Sebastian went back to the ledgers on the shelf. Daryl and Vivienne emptied drawers of pictures onto the table and began sorting them. Paine was looking at another shelf of ledgers when he glanced at the table and gasped softly. Vivienne and Daryl looked up at Paine in confusion. Paine walked over and held up a picture.

"If this girl isn't your twin, I don't know who is," he said, showing the picture to the two. Daryl blanched and Vivienne cried out and placed her hands over her mouth in shock.

Sebastian crossed the room and peered intently at the picture. "That's Clementine?" he asked Paine. Paine nodded and turned the picture over so Sebastian could read the faint writing on the back. "Clementine "Lemon" Delaney, 1862," he read.

"Lemon?" Vivienne asked.

"Maybe a family nickname?" Paine suggested. They all nodded and Vivienne blushed as the three men glanced repeatedly at the picture and then her. "The resemblance is uncanny," Paine murmured. He glanced up at Daryl. "Your picture isn't as close a resemblance as hers is. Maybe that's why you're having the dreams-you recognize her but she doesn't recognize you as fully yet."

Sebastian smiled. "So you were paying attention to me after all?"

Paine smirked. "Yes, I was paying attention to your reincarnation and philosophy lecture sir," he teased.

Paine and Sebastian went back to rummaging through the shelves while Daryl and Vivienne sat and stared at Clementine's picture.

"Do you feel funny seeing her?" Vivienne asked Daryl.

He shook his head slowly. "No. That's definitely the girl in my dream. And seeing her picture…it's like seeing a picture of somebody I used to know a long time ago…like looking at old family or school pictures. You knew them, but you've forgotten about them and now that ya see their picture it all comes back to ya." He ran his finger pensively over the picture. "I mean, I can't remember what all we did…..but I remember loving her. I remember how strong that love felt….." he shook his head and stood up and paced restlessly. Vivienne watched him quietly. "Do you remember anything about me?" he asked suddenly.

"What?" Vivienne sputtered.

"About Rafe. Do you remember anything at all about him?" he asked quietly.

Vivienne frowned, thinking. "No. I just feel odd when I look at you sometimes. I get an anxious feeling, and I feel just so…broken. Destroyed. It's an awful feeling." She said quietly.

Daryl nodded and began to pace again.

"Found it!" Paine exclaimed. He brought a book to the table and placed it where they all could see. "There's a brief mention of a Clementine Delaney being found drowned out by Mud Creek Falls. Seems she was found by some hunters late August, early September." They all frowned wondering how long she'd been in the water before being found.

"Well, where is Mud Creek Falls at?" Daryl mumbled.

"It's right there at the resort, Sky Valley," Paine murmured, thinking.

Vivienne started and looked up at the three men. "Paine, you and I went swimming there one summer. Remember?" Sebastian and Daryl turned to look at Paine and he nodded, remembering.

"Yes, yes I do. There's a steep drop from the top of a waterfall onto rocks below and then it widens out into a beautiful swimming hole. We were there when? Summer between our sophomore and junior years?" Vivienne nodded. "And, am I remembering this correctly? You refused to hike up to the top of the falls. And you didn't really swim much that day."

Vivienne nodded, remembering with Paine. "I felt creeped out at the thought of swimming there for some reason. I felt like if I got in that water…" and here her face went pale and she clapped her hand over her mouth, feeling sick.

"You said you felt like something would grab you and pull you under," Paine whispered.

Daryl shoved a waste can in front of Vivienne and grabbed her hair as she retched her breakfast away.

"Well, I guess that's where we need to go then," Sebastian said quietly.


	33. Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

Mid afternoon found the foursome on the path beside the falls. There was indeed a steep drop to the rocks below, which then widened out to a good size swimming hole. Vivienne stayed well away from the water, her eyes wide with fright. She had broken into a sweat as they'd gotten nearer the site and Daryl thought he was going to have to carry her there.

They stood about, gazing at the water and wondering what to do next. Sebastian paced around, trying to think of a way to make Clementine and Rafe realize who they were now and for Daryl and Vivienne to realize who they had been.

Paine was stepping cautiously along a path that seemed to lead to an opening or a cave underneath and behind the falls. Vivienne and Daryl stared at each other, that feeling of hopelessness and heartbreak overwhelmingly strong again. Daryl pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "It's okay Viv, we'll figure this out," he mumbled against her hair.

"Come here! Hurry!" they heard Paine exclaim. Sebastian hopped nimbly across the stones to where he'd heard Paine's voice come from. When Vivienne balked at crossing the stones or getting anywhere near the water, Daryl had slung her over his shoulder and quickly crossed the stones before she could protest. Setting her down, he gripped her hand and followed a narrow path to a small cave under and behind the falls. Ducking his head down he stepped into a decent size opening that seemed to go back pretty far.

The pounding water drowned out any sound from outside the cave, leaving the cave unnaturally quiet. Paine directed the beam of his flashlight onto a wall about midway back and pointed. "Look," he exclaimed.

Daryl, Vivienne and Sebastian looked and felt the air go out of them. There on the wall someone had carved the names Rafe and Clementine Bedford, April 1861.

Vivienne felt herself drawn to the carving, and ran her fingers hesitantly over the letters. Daryl stood behind her, that odd feeling overwhelming him again. Looking at Vivienne, he knew in one part of his mind that she was Vivienne but he also could see she was Clementine. It was her eyes….as if two women were looking out at him.

Vivienne stared at Daryl and slowly as she gazed into his eyes she could sense another person there with them. Daryl nodded at her, as if understanding she was seeing him like he was seeing her. He pulled her close and bent his lips to hers.

As they kissed, Vivienne felt both Rafe's and Daryl's lips on hers and although she felt a lingering sadness she also felt the bliss of a woman who is seeing her lover again after a long absence. She ran her hands over his face in wonder, tears of joy spilling over and slipping down her cheeks.

Daryl held Vivienne just as tightly, as if his grip on her was the only thing keeping her present with him. "So long…." he sighed. "My heart has broken every day that I've spent without you," he murmured.

Vivienne wept openly and clasped Daryl to her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. "Never leave me again," she begged. "I don't want to live in a world without you," she sobbed.

Paine and Sebastian watched in silence, marveling at the thought of two souls spanning two lifetimes to meet again. As Paine and Sebastian watched, Daryl and Vivienne quieted and gazed at each other, their hands clasped in a white knuckle grip.

"When I saw you I fell in love,

And you smiled because you knew*." Vivienne said softly to Daryl. Vivienne blushed and smiled softly at him.

"We're together now, and we will have our happy ending that we were denied so long ago," Daryl murmured.

Vivienne and Daryl kissed again slowly looked up to gaze at Sebastian and Paine. Vivienne wiped the tears from her face and smiled happily at the two. "Thank you," she said quietly. Daryl stood with his arm wrapped protectively about Vivienne.

Paine looked uncertainly at the two. "Is everything okay? Are you back to you again?"

Vivienne nodded, "Oh, yes. We're back to us and we know who we were as well." Daryl kissed her hair softly.

Sebastian and Paine laughed with relief. "Thank God that worked!" Paine exclaimed.

Vivienne and Daryl nodded in agreement. "Yeah, wouldn't wanna do that again, but at least now maybe I won't have those damn dreams anymore," Daryl mumbled. Vivienne glanced up at Daryl and nodded in agreement.

"Well let's head back toward home, it's getting toward dusk now," Paine said and he and Sebastian led the way out of the little cave.

Vivienne and Daryl looked again at the names carved on the wall and then at each other. "We do owe ourselves a happy ending this time," Vivienne murmured, gazing tenderly at Daryl.

"I think we can manage that," Daryl answered her and clasping hands they stepped out into the late afternoon light and carefully headed back to the grassy lawn where Sebastian and Paine waited for them.

*Quotes compliments of William Shakespeare.


	34. Chapter 34

May 9, 2016

Hello readers! I just wanted to first apologize for having been so tardy in posting new chapters to my stories the last couple of weeks. I do have an explanation though…

Another writer on this site and on Archive Of Our Own-she goes by both Mistyeye and bubblesbromleigh-and I are collaborating on a novel. This is not a fanfiction novel, but is in fact a fiction novel taking place in England during WWII. The inspiration for the novel was Norman Reedus-we are both fans of his beyond TWD and began bouncing ideas off each other as to what type of role would let him really show off his acting chops.

This novel is the result of our brainstorming and collaboration. We have a page on FB-MistyKat Productions, have started a GoFundMe page for startup and research expenses and hope to have our novel published as an ebook by December of this year at the latest.

I hope you can visit our FB page and like and share it with your friends. I'll be posting more regularly hopefully to my works already in progress here on Fanfiction and as always I am grateful for your reviews, suggestions and encouragement and your patience while waiting for updates.

Fingers crossed!


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